


Calcination

by epistretes



Series: Quintessence [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Thor (Movies)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blood Brothers, Canon Typical Violence, Character Death, Crossover, Darcy is Darcy, Erik gets his mind bent by Loki, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Frigga puts up with him, Harry Potter AU, Jane is a Science Queen, Kissing, Loki goes to University, Multi, Odin is a Grade A dick to Jane, References to Norse Religion & Lore, Sexual Tension, Sif will kick your arse, Slow Build, Thor is military, magical OCs, post-HP series, references to Greek mythology, warrior OCs, witch!Frigga, witch!Sigyn, wizard!Loki, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-20
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-02-14 00:42:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 29,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2171454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epistretes/pseuds/epistretes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The beginning of a breakdown of Loki and Thor’s lives, change is inevitable. Loki graduates from Hogwarts and embarks on adulthood while Thor contends with work, having Loki for a brother, his father's dislike of Jane and his intensifying feelings for the woman of science.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Loki's Graduation

**Author's Note:**

> This will make a lot more sense if you first read [Breaking Convention](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1135796/chapters/2296386).
> 
> Part Two of a Series. (There are a couple of instances of explicit content in this but that is not the focus of the story. Rated to cover these but it is only a minor part.)

Loki graduated as Head Boy of Hogwarts. It was a good thing to have on his résumé, that was for certain. Of course, he did not really need his résumé as he was in line to take over his mother’s interest in Vanir Productions when he was ready.

As it was, he was not yet ready. A year ago he fancied himself as such, but now he knew that he wanted a bit more freedom first. He wanted to go to university and get a muggle degree before going in to the world of business.

He had been allowed, as Head Boy, to invite four guests to the leaver’s ceremony and he had selected his mother, his brother and father - and his friend, Sif. It had become customary for the Head Boy and Girl to be able to bring some guests to the ceremony after Hogwarts had been rebuilt after the terrible battle there so many years ago as a sign of change and new acceptance. Even muggle guests were allowed to come, as a sign of growing unity between the muggleborns and the purebloods.

As he began to fuss with his hair, Sigyn came in to his dorm room and took pity on him, taking the brush and fixing it for him properly.

“Are you ready for this?” She asked kindly.

“As I’ll ever be. I can’t believe this is it, we’re saying goodbye.”

“A new adventure awaits us,” she gently reminded him as she turned to leave. 

“A new adventure indeed,” he muttered as he gave one last look to the room and left it all with instructions for the house elves that had chosen to stay employed at Hogwarts after their servitude had been broken. It had proved to be somewhat of a plum job and not a single one had chosen to leave.

He headed for the entrance and made his way to the gates, where he knew his guests would be ready for him in a few minutes as their thestral carriages were due. He reached the gate at the same time as Felicity Margate, the muggleborn Hufflepuff Head Girl did.

“Ready to do this?” she asked with a grin and Loki nodded as Professor Flitwick came in to view to open the gates and release the charms on them.

Loki and Felicity walked out of the gate and greeted a carriage each of their family. They then took them to the edge of the lake after the muggles in the group had been given special bracelet bands to protect them from the anti-muggle charms on the lands and they got in to little boats. Frigga and Odin got in one and Sif and Thor joined Loki in another.

“This is the first view any First Year student gets of Hogwarts,” Loki told them as the boats set off with a tap of his wand to the side and he flicked it at a pair of omnioculars that floated above them, capturing the event for him to re-watch later. As they turned the corner and the castle came in to view, he could hear the exclamations from all except his mother, who had seen it before but was still struck by the moment.

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” Loki said a little dramatically and Sif flashed him a wry grin.

“No wonder you thought you were so grand, going to a school like this,” she teased.

“Just wait until you see the inside.” The exclamations of delight did not stop at the entrance hall and Loki and Felicity split, taking a quick tour of the castle. The ghosts floated about, Peeves tried to moon Odin before Loki threatened him with the Bloody Baron (who was even more dejected after the Grey Lady had crossed over a few years past after the Battle of Hogwarts and the destruction of her mother's diadem) and they descended in to the common room. He spoke the password and showed them the beauty of the underground cavern. It may be in the dungeons, but it had a majestic, harsh beauty to it.

“This has been my common room for seven years,” he told them. “The boys sleep up there and the girls in there. I wouldn’t try to get near the girl’s rooms, Thor, unless you want a nasty curse.”

“You wouldn’t!” Thor protested.

“ _I_ wouldn’t, it is old magic. The girls were deemed responsible enough to go in to the boy’s dorms, though.” A quick tour of his dorm and back up, heading to the Great Hall. He explained that there was far more to see but that they did not have time and much of it was classrooms anyway. Not that it mattered, the Great Hall bewitched their senses and they went to sit at the Slytherin table with Loki. Sif and Sigyn embraced happily as did she and Thor, Antioch sat in the corner looking sullen and their other friends all greeted Thor warmly, remembering him from visits in the holiday times to Loki’s home.

When the ceremony was done and even Odin had admitted that the castle was quite extraordinary, Loki took leave of them to be able to ride the Hogwart’s Express one last time.

As they neared London, Sigyn and Loki left their friends and found an empty compartment, where she turned to him, gravely.

“Loki, I don’t know how to say this,” she began, a look of nervous concern on her face. “I think we need to break up.”

He felt like someone had punched him in the gut as her words processed.

“Sigyn?”

“You know I’ve been thinking about my future,” she told him, fiddling with her hands as she spoke. “My father has … _other_ plans for me. He wants us to settle down and marry almost immediately and for me to spend the next few years having babies and being a society wife.”

“And you don’t want that?”

“I’ve been wanting to travel,” she admitted. “To see the world.”

He nodded as he recalled her speaking to Jane whenever she could about muggle travellers and she had been taken by the idea of backpacking and she seemed to have collected a great many works on the world over the last few months.

“I know that isn’t what you want. Well, neither option is what you want. I know you too well.”

“Then, this is it?”

“Yes and no. I’ll still always be here for you and I know you’ll always be there for me. Who knows, maybe we’ll meet up in a couple of years and decide ‘to hell with it’ and go for it, but I want to at least _try_ to do something for myself. Not that I want you to wait for me, I don’t even think that would happen.”

“Why not?”

“Because you finally have a chance with Sif,” Loki blinked rapidly in succession and gaped at her.

“Sif? But I-”

“Love her and have done for years, you just had no idea. You just thought it was a little crush, but I know you too well, Loki Friggajarson. She and Gaël split up nine months ago and now, you’re free to try.” Sigyn smiled at him, that sweet smile that had lit up his world for so many years now. “I’m going to Australia. I leave in two days before my father gets wind of my plan. I can’t ask you to wait for me and I never would do that to you.”

“I’m going to miss you.”

“I’m going to miss you too, Loki.”


	2. Goodbye, my love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sigyn leaves for Australia and even in his broken-hearted funk, a new opportunity presents itself for Loki. Meanwhile, Thor has something on his mind.

He had decided to see her off at the airport. It seemed that Jane had been instrumental in procuring muggle documents for Sigyn secretly while she was still at Hogwarts. She was determined to try some muggle things, like riding in an aeroplane, for the novelty of it.

The past two days had been painful and he was alternating wildly between being furious with her and excited for her. She had been right, her father would have pressed for a quick engagement now they were out of school and he was certain that while he loved her, he did not want that just yet. As he parted from her and she disappeared through the security doors, he went to the men's room and disapparated. 

He arrived home and felt a tingle in the back of his mind that meant Thor was home. He pointed his feet away from his brother's rooms and towards the library. He was seeking solitude but bumped in to Jane who was returning a book. Still a little resentful of her secretive help to Sigyn, he went to move past her when she called out to him.

"I've been thinking about what you said," she told him, pretty face alight with some scheme. "You did not know what you wanted to study, but I can get you a spot at Queen Mary's with Darcy, Erik and I if you want it."

"Studying the cosmos?" He asked, interested despite himself. 

"I think you'd be good at it and you'll probably enjoy it. Didn't you tell me once that you did Astronomy at school?" 

"I ... did. Thank you, I'll think about it." She beamed at him again and hurried off to find Thor.

He selected a heavy tome from the shelf but after twenty minutes of not comprehending anything he had read, he set the book down and considered her offer. It sounded intriguing and it would give him something to do for a while. It was also a subject area that he would not feel like he was going in to at a disadvantage to the muggles in his class. While he was not ignorant of muggle sciences, he would not be at their level in a chemistry or physics degree.

Chewing it over until dinner, he joined the rest of the family and stole Jane's conversation from Thor to press her more about it. Thor did not seem to mind at all, quite the opposite - he encouraged it.

Two weeks then passed with Loki barely emerging from the library, buried in texts about the universe. At first, Thor had been happy that something occupied his thoughts and that he was not dwelling too much on Sigyn, until her first letter arrived by muggle post to say that she had arrived safely and was staying in a muggle hostel not too far from Bondi Beach. They had not seen Loki even at meals for two days after that and Thor decided to barge in on him. 

"Loki. We're going out," Thor boomed as genially as he could with his concern for his brother. 

"Go away, Thor," was all the response he got for that effort.

"Your mother wants us to go and pick up something from the nursery," well, she had mentioned in passing wanting a cutting or seeds of an interesting plant she did not yet have that the nursery had managed to procure for her. That was sufficient for Thor's purposes here.

"Go _away_ , Thor" Loki repeated, irritably.

"Fine. I shall tell Mother that you declined to help me..."

Knowing that Thor was putting it on, but aching for some comfort (though he would never admit it), he sighed affectedly and pretended to submit.

"No need." He got to his feet, saved his page and set down the books. He followed Thor in silence and strapped his seatbelt on.

"What was that plant called, again?" Thor asked as they pulled off of the path to Gladsheim and joined the road proper.

"Desmodium Gyrans," Loki told him, sullenly. "Known colloquially as 'the dancing plant' and it is an ingredient in an especially potent motion-sensing potion."

"You sound like you swallowed a text book! This is why I needed you for this quest, brother." Thor chortled as he spoke.

"Indeed." Even though he was resolutely grouchy, Thor's concern did help soothe his broken heart a little.

Thor happily filled the silence, seemingly gratified to even get a grunt from Loki as they went to the garden nursery for Frigga's errand. They paused at a few specimens that Loki recognised from Fensalir and could point out to Thor. In part to speak once or twice to satisfy his brother and in part to stop the incessant happy flow.

"It says these are good for padding bouquets." Thor mused as he looked at some Baby's Breath. "I like lilies but Mother - Fjörgyn - said something about them signifying funerals or something. I don't recall."

"A muggle tradition. We wizards hold to the Ancient Greek notion of... are you telling me that you are planning to propose to Jane?" Thor started as if not even realising what he had said.

"No! No, why would you eve-"

"Lie to me again and I'll use your tongue in my next potion." Loki warned. No one could lie to him and get away with it even if he was not using Legilimency, which he preferred not to use on family.

"I didn't want to talk about it... not while... y'know... you were getting over Sigyn." Thor looked so pained on his behalf that Loki relented a little.

"If you do anything so painfully idiotic as not proposing to the woman you love because of me, I will never speak to you again."

"I wanted to do it this weekend, she said there is something going on in the stars. The Persuses?"

"The Perseids. After Perseus. Which reminds me, lilies are synonymous with motherhood, the Milky Way and Earth. Zeus had Somnus put Hera to sleep so that Hercules could suckle from her and become a god. She created too much milk which spilled over and some went upwards to create the Milky Way. The milk that flowed down to Earth became a white lily. If you give a pregnant lady a lily and a rose, her choice is supposed to show the gender of the child." Thor looked between Loki and the lilies as he told the tale. "Adding Baby's Breath to a bouquet should be self-explanatory."

He then left his elder brother to reflect on this and went to speak with the clerk who knew him well from his visits with his mother and she hurried off to fetch the rare plant Frigga had ordered. When he returned with the desired specimen, he found Thor still in thought.

"Will you help me make it perfect for her?" He asked. "I know you were upset with her over helping Sigyn go abroad."

"I'm upset at the secrecy, even if I understand it. No, Jane has helped her to be happy. I would not hold that against her." 

"I am glad, brother. I already have the ring." He fished a small box from his pocket and showed it to Loki.

"Put that thing away before people get the wrong idea, moron." Thor did so with an amused grin. "Diamonds around a traditionally trap-cut emerald, very nice. Although considering how petite she is, I would not let her swim with it on. She might drown."

"I just thought she might like it."

"I'm sure she will. Incidentally, emeralds symbolise balance, fertility and long life. Seems like Volstagg's wedded bliss is having an effect on you." Loki pointed out with some amusement. Little Thors and little Janes running around would be delightful to all - save Odin. "Come. Mother will want her plant."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plant is just a plant, so letting you know that it is not Groot. GotG characters will not be in this as the whole 5-part arc had been pre-planned since Chapter One of 'Breaking Convention'.


	3. A magical moment ... or two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Volstagg has news and Loki and Thor prepare.

Loki was then very busy apparating back and forth from the site of the intended proposal and so he missed the Three, Sif and Gunnhilde stopping by Gladsheim to drop off invites to a dinner party being thrown. He was both annoyed at missing Sif and delighted at missing her as soon as Sigyn's words echoed again in his mind.

Even so, his preoccupation would pay off. The area of Box Hill had been discreetly cordoned off so that the lovers would not be bothered and Loki had planted several sweet-smelling flowers around to help set the mood as well as a few other little magical flourishes.

He got ready for Gunnhilde's dinner and apparated to near the house that the couple and their two-year old, Astrid, shared in Lambeth. Entering the home, he found that Sif and the boys were already there.

"Thor is coming from Jane's. They should be here very soon." He could faintly feel Thor in the back of his mind, which meant that he was not far off. He mentally prepared himself and then followed Gunnhilde through to the lounge. He felt his Adam's Apple bob a little when he saw Sif, now knowing what he did. Luckily, no one seemed to notice as just then, Astrid offered Fandral a homemade cookie and secured herself as a paragon of cuteness.

Sitting himself down carefully beside Hogun on the opposite side from Sif so he could not look at her and betray himself, he greeted everyone. A knock at the door announced Thor and Jane with Darcy and Ian. Ian had been a hapless but harmless student of Erik's when Darcy had swept him off of his feet. He was still harmless, if guided by Darcy in almost everything and he had slotted neatly in to their mish-mash group.

The distraction of their entrance gave him a chance to contemplate Sif as she leaned forward enough for him to take in her strong profile. It hit him like ice water dashed to the face - Sigyn had been right. He had been struck by her that first moment seeing her all those years ago when he was still angry about Odin and Frigga marrying and that first feeling had never truly died.

He wondered how he could ever live up to men like Gaël or Thor, though. Powerfully built men whose arm muscles were as thick as his thigh muscles. Were his feelings pointless? Was he in actuality still a silly schoolboy with a crush though he had graduated? His musings started to make him feel vaguely nauseated and a little bit of an idiot so he was ridiculously grateful to Gunnhilde calling for dinner - until he saw that he had been seated beside Sif herself.

“Hey you.” She greeted him with that beautiful smile as he took his seat. “Haven’t seen you since” here she lowered her voice a little as Jane was not far off “Hogwarts. That place was amazing. I’d love to have spent more time there just looking around.”

“It would have been nice to show you around a bit more of it, it is a shame we didn’t have more time,” he agreed and then inspiration struck. “I _can_ show you more of it. Just not physically.” He smirked at her confused look and whispered “Magic”.

“Tomorrow night?” She seemed eager to take the opportunity and his heart trembled in his chest and he hoped she could not hear it beating a little faster. Such a stupid thing, he felt all of a flutter around her like he had not in many years. She had always taken his breath away but it had slipped down to a more settled and familiar thing… until now.

“I can’t tomorrow night, I’m helping Thor with something. Saturday night, maybe?”

“I can’t Saturday - I can do Monday, though? If it isn’t something you can show me at the dinner on Sunday.”

“Agreed, Monday.” He wondered what she was doing Saturday but did not pry. It was none of his business if she did not choose to tell him - and he did not want her asking what he was doing for Thor in return. Bouyed up by his success in getting more time - and alone - with Sif, he felt a little more settled for the dinner, which was excellent. If anything, Gunnhilde’s meals had somehow improved with her keeping up with her husband’s appetite.

After the dessert had been demolished by all present, they put Astrid to bed and then gathered everyone together.

“We brought you here tonight because we have an announcement,” Volstagg began and he squeezed his wife’s hand happily. “We’re having another baby.”

Exclamations of happiness came round from everyone, including an entreaty to call it ‘Fandral’ if it was a boy from one quarter. The little party raged on around the happy couple and Loki caught Thor’s eye and smirked at him before paying Sif all the attentions that were her due.

Thor and his group all set off together and Hogun, Sif and Fandral headed for the train station while Loki set off alone to Fensalir and hurriedly began sorting through everything he needed to let Sif see Hogwarts in all of the ancient and rebuilt glory. Satisfied and exhausted, he finally just slept there that night.

______

Having only managed to shake off Darcy by swearing her to silence and telling her that he was planning to propose, Thor managed to whisk Jane off to Box Hill to see the Perseids. He found the spot that he had picked and Loki had charmed, finding that they were the only two for a good distance despite the popularity of the place for stargazing. He set up a little picnic area as Jane calibrated her telescope and cameras to catch the meteoric event.

He had paid Gunnhilde to make all of Jane’s favourite things and they had snuck the items in to the car when everyone was saying their goodbyes the night before. He found the little hidden magical cache Loki had set up that afternoon for him with all of the little bits he needed and had a perfect little scene ready for Jane when she turned around, the omnioculars floating unseen above them and recording the moment for them.

“The camera is all ready, it should take a high definition shot every quarter-second so that we can perfectly track the stars and see all of the meteors as they pass,” she told him happily as she sat down beside him on the little blanket.

“When does it start?” he asked her, offering her a little pasty.

“In about fifteen minutes.” She then launched in to an explanation of the meteor shower and the hows and whys of it, Thor listening in interested captivity. She always lit up so much when she spoke of her scientific pursuits and it only made her more beautiful in her animation. He only understood part of what she said, but he got the idea of it and it fascinated him to watch her transform when speaking of science.

The moment ended as the first instance came in to view and she leaped up and watched as her telescope, the camera and the omnioculars caught everything. As the shower reached the zenith, he called her attention and she turned and saw him on one knee with the ring held out before him.

She stared and blinked, looked back at the stars as if trying to be sure it was not just a strange reflection of something from the night sky and then back at Thor, who was beaming at her with happiness.

“Jane Foster, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”

Her affirmation was lost on the wind, but not on her face and as he stood up and drew her in for a kiss before sliding the ring on to her finger he felt that everything was right in the world and the stars wheeled behind them, forgotten in their moment.


	4. Telling the gang

“You two are going to make me vomit,” Loki complained as Thor and Jane sat giggling together in the breakfast room the next morning.

Frigga had been told and she was priming Odin for the news but even that did not seem to dampen the spirits of the newly engaged couple. Frigga herself had smiled and told them she had always known this day would come and that she was happy for them. Thor had decided that he would tell their friends before his father as he wanted a happy memory with him to arm himself to deal with that particular storm and Loki was forcibly reminded of a patronus. As it was, Frigga had whisked Odin away to a fancy dinner and night stay in a hotel in London to leave the others the run of the house for their announcement.

Their guests all arrived in a convoy of cars and seated around in their favoured room. Hannah had laid out drinks for everyone - remembering the non-alcoholic for Gunnhilde - and a lot of little nibbles for the evening. After all the pleasantries had been observed and everyone was confirmed to be in health, Thor and Jane stood up.

“We have an announcement,” Thor began.

“If she is pregnant, you rascal…” Volstagg interrupted with wide smile.

“No, no. I’m not pregnant.” Jane assured him with a huge blush stealing across her face.

“We’re engaged.” Thor continued as if there had been no interruption at all.

As the happy congratulations flowed in, Loki watched Sif carefully. She showed nothing but happiness for the couple and he could not quite tell if she was truly okay or not. She had a good poker face, after all.

Everyone settled back down and was seated and Jane told the tale of how he had asked her, finishing off with a breathless “It was just like magic.”

The room went suddenly to a strange and vaguely uncomfortable silence as half of the room looked at Loki.

“Hey, I only helped set up the area.” Loki protested and sighed, standing up. “Jane, as you are now officially to be one of the family, I can tell you something, Gunnhilde, Darcy and Ian as well.” He paused dramatically. 

“I’d better not get in to trouble for telling you this… I’m a wizard.” The four stared at him, confused, but then again it was an odd thing to just tell people that had never believed in the possibility of magic being real.

“I didn’t think you were drinking tonight..?” Darcy asked, sounding perplexed. He responded by sliding a slender piece of wood from his long sleeve and he flourished it at his vacant chair - which turned instantly in to a pig. It oinked somewhat indignantly and he turned it back again.

“Wow.” Darcy stared at the spot and blinked rapidly before rubbing her eyes.

“That isn’t possible…” Jane murmured, even though her eyes were alight with questions as if ready to figure out right there and then why it was impossible and how she could make it possible.

“It is possible. The school I went to was a school of witchcraft and wizardry. It is all kept secret from the muggles - non-magical people. Actually, it is not just a secret, it is our law. Thor telling this lot a few years ago very nearly got us in a lot of trouble. They’re lucky they did not all get obliviated.” They looked ill. “That means having your memory wiped, which I would not do to any of you. You have my mother’s clout with the Minister to thank for evading that, by the way.”

“Magic and technology do not work very well together. Scientific technology anyway,” he added, forestalling Jane who was clearly already thinking of things she could put Loki’s magic at use for. “Our own tech it is fine with. I made this for you from it.” He pulled out a DVD that he had made. 

“I used a pair of omnioculars to record the proposal and the Perseid shower so that you won’t have missed anything. I converted it, with some difficulty, to a video format. I can’t promise it won’t blow up in your player though.”

After he had answered many questions on magic and managed to successfully gear the conversation back to Thor and Jane, Sif settled her chair beside his.

“I saw that.” She whispered.

“Saw what?”

“Saw you looking at me as if to check that I was okay when they made the announcement. I’m fine.” He felt his cheeks redden a little.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“You didn’t. I know you were just concerned. The truth is, I got over him a long time ago.” She confessed. “He and I are too alike. We’d only burn the house down around us.”

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I am. I take it that is what you were helping him with the other night?” she queried, eyes dancing with amusement. “And to think, I was put off for such a triviality.”

“Well, you’ll have me all to yourself tomorrow,” he teased, content and believing her assertion that she was, indeed, over Thor.

“It’s a date.”

______

They had all stayed over the night before, except Volstagg and Gunnhilde who had to go home and relieve their babysitter. At breakfast, Loki surprised Thor and Jane with another gift.

“As the two of you are grossing me out, I have booked you a little holiday in the Lake District,” he told them, handing over some train tickets. “I rented you out a cottage.”

“Ah, one day, brother - you shall gross me out in return!” Thor chortled as he took the tickets.

“I hardly think so,” he had scoffed as he buttered his croissant. “I would like to think that I would have enough self-restraint to not make goo-goo eyes over breakfast.”

With a great deal of noise and mess, everyone that was going got packed off to the station and Loki and Sif stayed behind.

“So, how are you going to show me Hogwarts?” she asked when they were finally alone.

“My memories, but not here. I need to hold you and I need you to trust me,” he told her seriously.

“I trust you, Loki.” She stepped in close and he wrapped his arms around her even though he knew he did not need to do it quite so firmly and he disapparated with her. As they reappeared at Fensalir, Sif wobbled and he held her steady.

“What happened?”

“We disapparated. Most people feel a little sick after Side-Along Apparating the first time. We’re at Fensalir.”

“I’m fine, it just surprised me is all,” she admitted and he let her go.

“Sorry about that, the first time is always supposed to be better if you don’t warn them so the person doesn’t tense up.” ‘and risk being splinched’ he added to himself.

“At least I know for next time,” she told him and he felt better about the whole thing. 

"Through here," he guided her along the halls. She had never been to Fensalir before and she stopped him to look at a few pictures that were hanging of him as a child.

"Who is this?" She asked of a picture of a handsome blonde man standing with a younger Frigga.

"My father, Mímir Bölþornson," Loki told her. "He and my brothers, Baldr and Hodr, died in a car crash.”

"I'm sorry, Loki. I knew that but I had forgotten, I didn’t mean to be tactless."

"It was a long time ago." He told her, not wanting to dwell on it. The hurt never left but it was easier to mourn in private.

He opened the door to his rooms and showed her his sanctum. He had not officially lived here for years but it still held an air uniquely his. Moving from the little living area in to a small ante-room, he showed Sif a floating metal bowl and a cabinet full of glistening vials.

"This is a pensieve, it can immerse you in memories," he told her. "These are some of my memories."

Plucking a vial from the cabinet he showed her the silvery liquid/mist within.

"I'm not about to see Hogwarts Unrated am I?" She joked and Loki flushed.

"No. I picked these carefully." He assured her. "I've never done this with a muggle before. I hope it works after all this."

"Even if it doesn't, it is lovely that you tried."

He poured the substance in and let it swirl before he took her hand. They placed their faces in the pensieve's depths and entered his first memory. A young Loki was clinging to his mother as they entered King's Cross station.

"Just walk through the barrier, darling." Frigga was telling the eleven year-old. "I'll be right with you."

"Okay." He took a deep breath and then went through the plastic barrier separating the platform from the track to muggle eyes but leading to the magical world for wizards.

"This is amazing," she told him as little Loki found his friends and loaded his trunk and Hela on to the train. "I didn't think it would be so personal, though. Are you sure you are okay with showing me this?"

"I trust you with these memories," he assured her as he took her into the next memory.

"Wow. Hey, Loki! Come check this out!" A tiny Antioch Ogden was tugging on Loki to show him a gigantic man. "I heard he is the crazy 'Care of Magical Creatures’ teacher."

"Firs' years over 'ere!" The huge man called out. "No more'n two to a boat."

The two friends clambered in to the little boat as Sif had done when she had visited Hogwarts for his leaving ceremony and she watched as Loki took in the sight of Hogwarts for the first time. They swept around the Great Lake and moored, going up some steps to find a very old, severe-looking woman waiting for them.

“First Years, I am Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House. Welcome to Hogwarts. I will be taking you through these doors in to the Great Hall where you will be sorted in to your houses. These houses will be like your family while you are here with us. No one house is better than another and all will set you on the path to greatness if you allow them to. Follow me.”

The two adults joined the group and followed them in to the Great Hall, where children were called up to be sorted in their houses. It was a fairly even split and Sif recognised the girl Felicity Margate as being the Head Girl when she had visited going in to Hufflepuff. Loki had already been sorted in to Slytherin and she had watched for the very short time it took to put him there.

“What does it do?” She asked as she gestured at the hat.

“It speaks to you and looks in to your mind. It was considering putting me in Ravenclaw, but decided that Slytherin would ultimately suit me better.”

“Magic is so weird!” she chuckled as Antioch joined Sigyn and Loki at the Slytherin table, all of them looking excited. Loki then pulled her in to a series of different memories that showed her some of his classes and the first time he had a school flying lesson. He clearly knew how to fly but enjoyed the class anyway.

He pulled her out of the memories and they stopped for something to eat where he answered all of her questions about what she had seen and then they went back in. He showed her the time they all swam in the shallows of the Great Lake during a heat wave and explained about the grindylows and merfolk that dwelt within the depths, he allowed her to watch a whole Quidditch game (which she absolutely loved and was soon shouting at the phantom images in front of her as she figured out the rules). As he showed her the Forbidden Forest on a secretive trip in to the place, she automatically tensed as if ready to draw a weapon and when he had shown her the Astronomy Tower, she had chuckled when he, as a prefect, caught some couples in flagrante delicto and docked them points.

“I only ever docked points from the other houses,” he told her with a smirk.

Finally, he showed her the Room of Requirement, which still had some scorch marks now, no matter what form it took. He told her that it was strongly rumoured that some idiot had used the powerful Fiendfyre spell in there and had destroyed centuries worth of contraband.

They came back out of his memories and he carefully replaced them in their different vials for safekeeping. 

“That school is amazing,” she told him, cheeks pinked with the excitement of the day.

“It is the best school of it’s kind in the world,” he assured her. 

“I’m really glad you let me see that, Loki.”

“I’m glad you got to see it.” he replied and as she smiled at him, his heart beat a little faster again. “I should… get you home.”

“Come with me, we can help the others plan the engagement party.”

“You mean, we can let Fandral think he is planning it then just do it properly?” he joked.

“That is _exactly_ what I mean,” she replied with a smile and let him disapparate her back to her home in Kensington.


	5. The engagement party.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odin reacts... poorly... to the news of Thor and Jane's engagement. Loki shows himself to be a loving brother and perhaps, just perhaps, it was just what was needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loki’s birth parents are Laufey as a male and Fárbauti as a female as in the Marvel comics rather than the opposite gender as in the Norse myths.
> 
> Another double-length chapter in a row, you lucky ducks. I rather doubt you mind~

It had only been when Sif had reminded Fandral that the Lady Frigga was going to be at this engagement party with a lot of other important people (her own father included) that he relented from his plans for bringing in a lot of his favourite strippers from Stringfellow’s.

They were relieved that Jane had not had to deal with all this, even if they were not really loving the idea of planning an engagement party. Loki had suggested bringing in a professional and letting them do it and after some feeble protest, it was decided. A professional would do it and they could relax and actually enjoy the party. Gunnhilde would have her own catering company take care of the food, which very much pleased her and Volstagg as they needed a bit more income to set up for the new baby.

Thor and Jane had come back after five days at the Lake District and looking about as refreshed and in love as any couple could. Loki did not even envy them it...much. His small envy all disappeared the day they told Odin of the betrothal, however.

They had been sitting at the table, hoping that having Frigga and Loki there would help mitigate Odin’s anger, but it did not.

“I will not have that commoner in my family. She belongs with us as much as a goat belongs at a banquet table! I will not allow her in this house again. She will never be the Lady of Gladsheim!” He had roared, fury radiating from every part of his body at Thor’s announcement. That was when Loki snapped. He stood and slammed his palms down on the table, he loved Thor and Thor’s happiness was Jane. He refused to stand by and let his brother or the woman his brother loved suffer. Thor would be hard pressed in this instance to defend himself and Jane without a likely irreversible breach with himself and his father but Loki might be able to salvage _something_ \- at least, over time. He had already lost Sigyn to one father’s pushiness and being overbearing, he would not put Thor through it as well.

“Mother. I am of age now as a muggle and as a wizard by law, correct?” Thor looked confused and began to ask what this had to do with anything, but Loki just lifted an arm and shushed him with a finger, his eyes still locked on to his mother’s face.

“That is correct.” She had replied calmly, setting her glass down on the table with a light clink apparently catching on to what Loki was doing.

“Then as the sole adult male of your line and your heir, I believe that Fensalir is mine in name and in actuality and I can dispose of the estate in any manner I choose?”

“That is also correct.”

“Then here and now let me take official claim of it.”

“I relinquish the grounds and gardens to you, my son, let all here be witness to it.” She replied, still so very calmly and formally as Loki turned to face his brother, ignoring the lines of fury in Odin’s face.

“Thor, brother, as the owner of Fensalir - I hereby offer you the residence of the guest wing at no rent for as long as you and your fiancée shall require it. The gardens remain my Mother’s domain and are to be unaltered.”

“I will not be disobeyed in my own house!” Odin turned his fury to Loki, who could see Thor and Jane flicking their gazes between them like it was an especially riveting rally in a tennis match.

“I have not disobeyed you. As it is, I shall be removing to Fensalir. Jane Foster may not be welcome in your home, but she is welcome in mine.”

“You are not even of Frigga’s blood!” Odin roared. “You have no claim to Fensalir, it is mine by rights of marriage.”

Loki did not even get a chance to reply as Frigga stood so quickly, anger stealing in to her fair countenance even as her voice was placid.

“Husband, dear, I believe we need to speak in private.”

“I will not have him enabling this when I have expressly forbidden it.” 

“He is my son, even if I was not the woman who bore him. He has been my son since the moment he was laid in my arms and I swore to protect him in Fárbauti’s memory. He bears my name and my love and now, Fensalir is _his_ by law both magic and muggle and by my wish.” Her words were clear, sharp and firm. "Do not pursue this any further and apologise to my son, to your son and to Miss Foster."

The anger swirling around them did not abate and Odin flatly refused to apologise. Loki took Thor and Jane by the hand and Side-Along Apparated them to Fensalir.

"Loki, I-" Jane began from the floor where she had fallen and he quickly conjured her a bucket as she turned green.

"There is no need," he told her, gently. "Stay here as long as you need."

"Thank you, brother. I am sorry about my father." Thor dropped to the floor to hold his fiancée's hair as she vomited from the shock of the sudden magical transportation.

"As am I. I would go back for my mother but he will be utterly unable to harm her with words or actions. He will relent and she would not appreciate such interference." He walked away, flicking his wand around and opening up the guest wing. He rang the bell to assemble the skeleton crew of servants that had remained and informed them of the new residencies.

A few apparitions back and forth secretly to Gladsheim brought Thor's effects and before dinner, he went for a walk to the wilderness, where he changed to wolf form and ran. Fensalir was protected from Odin in many more ways than the old muggle could ever conceive. The estate was not Unplottable, but it still had protective wards on it that kept out any who wished the inhabitants harm. Loki knew that despite Odin’s belief that he could challenge Loki for the ownership in muggle law, wizarding law would forbid it and he stood to discover that muggle lawyers would somehow be unable to find the legal documents they required should he defy his wife - which Loki doubted he would. He was a stubborn man but Frigga was the sole person on this Earth who could sway him away from a set course.

He found the stream and, ignoring the fact that it was chilly, jumped right in to the water and splashed about in wolf form for a bit. He hauled himself out after a long while and lay on the bank. The mention by Frigga of Fárbauti had unsettled him more than he wished, especially after Sif had recently brought Mímir up. His birth father had been a man only known to him as Laufey and Frigga had told him that while he lived, it was better that Loki not seek him out, at least until he was a powerful wizard in his own right. He had been harsh and cruel and had used his power to bewitch and bamboozle muggles in to giving up their property and gold to him. He had been apprehended by law and taken to Azkaban while Fárbauti was still pregnant with Loki.

Dying mere minutes after childbirth, Loki knew that his mother had had time to name him Loptr and extracted a promise from her best friend Frigga to look after him and to claim him as hers, to pretend Loptr had died as well. All Loki knew was that in the spell Frigga wrought to keep him hidden until he came of age by Wizarding Law, his “true” self had been buried under the mantle of ‘Loki Friggajarson’. 

Being as nosy and curious for knowledge as he was, he had found reference to Laufey in the archives. What he had read there had made him decide that he never wanted to seek out the man who had sired him. As far as he was concerned, or cared, Mímir had been his father. Mímir had been the one to love and raise him until his untimely death. Odin could not come close to filling the role Mímir had and Loki found that while part of him did love the old man in his own way, it had been more from a desire to make his beloved mother happy. Yet, while Frigga was all he could ever want in a mother, thinking of Fárbauti and how she must have felt betrayed by the man she had married enough to entrust her son to another…

As he dwelled on such things, he sniffed the air as the scent changed. He was not alarmed when he recognised the scent and he saw Thor come in to view.

“Loki?” He asked, looking at the wolf and clearly hoping to speak. The wolf shapeshifted back in to human form and looked up at his big brother.

“I wanted to thank you,” Loki waved it off.

“He will see sense in the end and this way, you won’t have said something to breach your relationship forever,” he demurred, not really in the mood for accepting Thor’s gratitude. Normally, he would have loved this, having the upper hand, yet discontent itched beneath his skin.

“I know he will. I hate that he won’t give Jane a chance, though.”

“He has old fashioned notions that will crumble down when he realises how much he misses you.”

“I hope so, brother. I hope so. This really is the perfect solution, now that I have had a chance to think about it.”

“You mean now that Jane has pointed it out,” Loki teased. “Anyway, it is not perfect. If it was, I’d be charging you rent.”

______

Thor was nervous and Jane had spent the first half-hour of her engagement party at Fensalir soothing him. Loki, however, had been more pleasantly diverted. Sif was swanning around, helping people find their seats for the supper portion of the night and finally, just before the catering staff came in, Frigga appeared - with Odin at her side. His face was utterly blank and he took his seat at the top table without a word. Loki had amended the wards for one night, but he trusted the man to not do anything stupid in front of such an assembly. It was already suspicious that the party was held here and not at Gladsheim as it was, no need to add fuel to the fire.

Loki had asked, and had been granted, the boon of sitting at Table One with Sif, Gunnhilde, Darcy, Ian, Erik and the Warriors Three so as to avoid being a gooseberry up there and also to be away from Odin if he did actually show up. It was also a little awkward as Fjörgyn and her new husband, Gymir, showed up to mark the occasion of her son’s engagement. The food was brought out and the older guests placated by having their stomachs filled with exemplary food. They all knew that there were some here, like Odin and Týr who thought Jane beneath the bloodline she was marrying in to. The rest of the guests were just happy to see a young couple finding love.

Within three minutes of the food being cleared, Odin was getting in to his limousine and driving away, but Frigga had stayed. She had spoken quietly with the happy couple for a moment and they all looked somber, but slightly relieved. The party moved in to the adjoining room and the band fired up. The younger guests were happy and they began to flood the dance floor, lead quite eagerly by Fandral and his date for the evening, a nice brunette he had introduced to the named Sabrina. Sif took Hogun’s hand and followed as the other two couples did likewise. Thor and Jane continued to do the rounds and greet everyone to take their blessings, genuine or faked and Loki swept over to his mother. He took her hands and muttered quietly so they would not be overheard.

“Are you all right?”

“I am, do not worry, Loki. Odin is angry but his being here tonight is proof that he can be talked around eventually.”

“If anything _he_ is the stubborn old goat that should not be at the feast,” Loki muttered, irritation lacing his voice.

“Let us just say that my faith in his being worked on comes not just from a wife’s trust in her husband,” she told him and Loki nodded, understanding. His mother rarely spoke of her prophecies and once, the Department of Mysteries was said to have many of her prophecies within before Harry Potter’s wife had got inside many years before. It was supposed to be a great secret, so of course, everyone knew that Ginevra Potter had destroyed most of it battling Death Eaters (Loki always had thought that was pretty cool).

“Well then, care to dance?” he asked, offering her his hand.

“With the most handsome young man at the ball? Indeed,” his mother teased and she delicately placed her hand in his and he led her to the dance floor with his friends. As they danced, her elegant gold gown swished around his own black and green clad outfit and they looked like the perfect match of mother and son. Her brightness complimented his darkness and it was clear that they loved one another very deeply.

“I can’t keep you all to myself,” Frigga announced at the next song. “Hogun, if you would do me the honour?” The twinkle in her eye betrayed her to her son and he decided to forgive her meddling this one time. Hogun nodded somberly and took Loki’s place to dance with the beautiful older lady, leaving Sif and Loki both requiring partners.

“May I?” Loki asked of her and Sif grinned at him.

“You may.” They began to move around the dance floor as Sif whispered in his ear, making his very spine tingle. “Look at Hogun’s eyes. He is terrified, but only someone as close as you or I could tell.”

Loki very much doubted that he was as close to Hogun as she was, if anything, he was the one of the group Loki spoke to the least. When they did, it was usually only to discuss something like the planning of this event or his cousin at Hogwarts. However, as they moved past him, he thought he _could_ discern a very well hidden note of terror at the thought of dancing with Loki and Thor’s mother. Sif began to chuckle and Loki just drank it all in as they moved.

As the night moved on and some of the older guests began to disperse, Thor and Jane relieved from their hosting duties as Frigga took over; Loki and Sif danced and chuckled together. After a while, they had left the dancefloor and hit the bar, chatting about their exploration of his memories amongst other things and they had slowly imbibed more and more alcohol.

Fandral eventually found them and dragged them back to the dance floor after she said goodbye to her father as he left, a pinched look on his face.

“Come Sif, it is my turn~” Fandral teased and Loki danced with his date for the night, she was apparently more than happy with letting Fandral dance with other girls and Loki privately wondered if this was actually the girl for the notorious philanderer. She seemed nice enough, but his attention was stolen once again, by Sif.

“I need some air,” she told him after some more dancing and Loki offered to take her outside. There were still quite a lot of people milling about between hired help, their regular serving staff and guests and Loki did not really want to be around so many people right now.

“Come on, I can take us in to the gardens.” He steered a little poorly, but as they were both sloshed they did not notice. The famous gardens had been opened to the guests, but he managed to find a hidden pathway. Frigga had enchanted these bushes to be the entrance to her private sanctum and only she and Loki knew of it. He guided Sif in to this enclosed little paradise and sat her down on the white-painted wrought iron bench within. In here, this protected and magically enlarged space, magical flowers grew. Little hummingbirds and faeries fluttered about and Sif laughed when one faerie kissed her on the nose.

"It was getting so stuffy in there," she commented as the cool night air drew the heat from her skin. 

"Mother will likely recast the cooling charms soon. I'm glad it is going so well, for Thor's sake."

"Mmm, me too." She agreed and leaned on his chest as they relaxed. "Even Odin didn't make a fuss."

"Probably because he knew he'd get himself hexed if he did," Loki laughed, imagining Odin with a Jelly-Legs curse.

“What you did for them… it really is amazing, Loki,” her voice had dropped a little, quieter yet still firm.

“It wasn’t much, I had this place sitting here doing nothing after all,” he tried to turn aside the compliment.

“No really,” she picked herself up from his chest and turned to look at him. “You didn’t have to do it, but you did. You are a lot nicer than you let people know.”

“Don’t let it get out, I have a reputation to protect you kn-” his eyes went wide as she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. Instantly, without even thinking, his arms went around her waist as his eyes fluttered closed and he opened his mouth to her. His heart pounded in his chest and his blood thundered in his veins as all of his adolescent hopes and dreams coalesced in to this one moment.

She pulled away for a moment and he worried even in his inebriated state that she might stop and claim it was merely a drunken mistake, but she smiled and leaned in again. As their kiss deepened, he leaned back on the bench, which was very comfortable despite being wrought iron (thanks to some effective cushioning charms) and pulled her on top of him, feeling her hair fall around his face as their mouths learned the curve of the other, as their hands travelled along fabric and the occasional flash of flesh. He could feel her lithe, toned body against him, pressing him down in to the bench and the little hidden paradise was indeed paradise entire.

One strap of her dress had slid down her shoulder to hang loosely on her arm and he trailed his long, cool fingers along the curve of her shoulder, getting the satisfaction of hearing and feeling her moan in to the kiss. He continued on up the curve of her collarbone, along the clean line of her neck and he then buried his fingers in her lustrous hair. Drunk as he might be, he tried to fix the feel in his mind forever.

She broke the kiss long enough to softly moan his name with feeling and he felt himself react. He did his best to ignore the swelling trapped in his trousers, not wanting to sully such a moment by trying to take it too far or beyond what she was comfortable with. Not that it was easy, especially when she shifted slightly and brushed against him just so. Instead, he poured himself entirely in to their embrace and lost himself in their kisses. 

Her fingers trailed down his arms and he shivered even though it was through a layer of fabric. Just the thought that she might want him, might touch him so made his heart swell in his chest and he offered himself to her, letting her kiss his breath away.

He had no idea how long they had been tangled there, swept up in the moment, in each other, but soon, she broke the kiss and was asleep on his chest. Mind too pleasantly fuzzy from the magic, from the drink, from the night and from their indulgence, he drifted off as well, arms wrapped around her in the little sanctum.


	6. Call to arms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after the night before.

Waking up with Sif cuddled in to his chest was most definitely Loki’s new favourite way to wake up and he savoured the moment and let it linger in his mind and body indulgently. As he let the rather lovely memories of their stolen kisses and touches in the little sanctum flow in to his mind, the birds chirping and faeries flitting around him made the most marvellous sound, that is until Sif groaned sleepily as she woke up slowly which was a much better sound.

“Morning beautiful,” Loki pressed soft kisses to her cheekbone and down along her jaw and neck.

“Mor-ornin’ Loki,” she yawned through her words “we fell asle-” her eyes flicked open and she had a look of startled, raw panic on her face. “We fell asleep. We kissed! Oh my goodness.”

 _That_ did not sound so promising and it was even less so when she scrambled up and stood, looking around her as if confused as to where she was and almost like she had not even seen it before.

“Sif?”

“We shouldn’t have done that.” He felt his heart fall out through his bottom somewhere at her words.

“Why not?”

“You only just broke up with Sigyn. I haven’t been split from Gaël for a year yet, this is all too fast.” She told him.

“Did you want it to happen?” He asked, quietly.

“Yes, at the time.” She turned away and Loki felt his hands ball in to fists as he barely contained his emotions.

“It won’t happen again,” he promised. “I need your hand to get you through the enchanted doorway.”

“Loki, please don’t be like that, I just need some time to think about this.” He took her hand anyway and pulled her through the magical barrier before dropping it abruptly and stalking away. She followed quickly after him, her heels ripped off and dangling from her right hand to speed her steps.

"Loki, listen to me, would you?" She demanded as she caught up to him, but they were interrupted at the French doors by his brother.

"Ah, there you are..." Thor looked relieved to find Sif, but concerned at the same time. "We've all been searching for you for the last hour."

"We fell asleep outside when we went to get some air," she blurted out, clearly embarrassed and Loki turned away to hide his frown. Thor was obviously tense and he did not like it - he was also sure that it had nothing to do with Sif being found with Loki having been out all night, drunk. Something was happening, but as he realised what, his hurt heart began to pound in alarm.

"Our orders arrived this morning. We're shipping out in ten for the brief at oh-nine-hundred."

"Ten?! I have to change." She panicked, he knew she only had the clothes she had arrived in yesterday before she had changed in to her stunning party gown, which was no less stunning now for being crumpled and shoe-less.

"You don't have time, let me." Loki lifted his arm and pointed his wand at her. In a moment, he transfigured her dress and shoes in to general day-to-day comfortable and practical civvies with sturdy boots. Her hair was charmed in to a simple ponytail with a flourishing flick and lastly, any morning breath she might have had was gone.

"Now you have time." He told her as he dropped his wand arm back down. Even so plainly dressed as she was, she was no less stunning than she had been the night before when bedecked in her best party gear. He had a hard time keeping his Adam’s Apple from bobbing as he looked at her as she quickly pulled her boots on and remembered the feel of her stretched out on top of him, kissing him.

"Thor? You go, I'll catch up." Sif ordered with no preamble or explanation as she laced up her boots. Thor looked between the two suspiciously but nodded and left. As soon as the door snapped to, she grabbed his arm to stop him from trying to disapparate. "Loki, listen. This is exactly what I was worried about."

“You need to go,” he reminded her, masking the hurt in his voice as best he could.

“I meant what I said. I wanted it to happen at the time. I don’t regret it other than perhaps the timing.” She relaxed her grip on his arm. “I had word from my father two days ago that it was likely we would get called up again soon based on some intelligence that he and Izdaja had received, but I did not think it would be this quickly. You’ve only been split from Sigyn a short while and I don’t want what we have to get complicated by putting labels on it that we’re not ready for.”

Something bloomed within Loki as he heard that, she was not giving him an outright ‘no’, just a ‘maybe later’. It was not perfect, but he would take it. Part of him knew she was right in that he needed time for his heart to heal before trying to pledge it to another but the rest of him resented such logical thinking in such a moment.

“You have to go,” he reiterated but with a much softer tone and look in his eyes.

“I do. Look, I … I don’t want to complicate things and I don’t want to say anything that you might regret if I get myself blown up on a mission,” she looked like she was resisting the urge to bite her lip before plunging on “I really enjoyed last night. Even if we were just drunk and lonely, I still know I like you and don't want to string you along. No one deserves that.”

Loki did not reply and she let go of his arm, moving to the door and where Thor would be waiting to whisk her and the others to meet their squad and get their orders. Just as she was about to close the door, Loki spoke.

“If you get yourself blown up, I’ll never forgive you.” She closed the door with a snap and was gone.

Five minutes later and Fensalir was near empty. The servants started to move about to clear everything up and Loki could not even busy himself with helping as not all of the hired help knew about his magic, needing more than their skeleton staff to complete what needed to be done. He had borrowed Hannah from his mother to oversee the running of this party and he pulled her aside and told her she had free reign to name her replacement in standing at Fensalir as she was planning to stay with his mother at Gladsheim and also that she had the final word in any of the staff she wanted to hire to fill the ranks again properly. She bobbed a curtsy and moved away, Loki smiled briefly at the spring in her step at the trust and power he had placed in her.

The noise gone, silence but for the packing up and cleaning around him, Loki surprised himself by going to seek out Jane. Perhaps they could find some peace with each other as they discussed his imminent entry to her tuition, or rather, to Erik Selvig’s tuition at her urging.


	7. Life goes on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki, Jane and Darcy bond in Thor, Sif and W3's absence and Loki shows them what an Animagus is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the time it took to get this out, I had a very busy month at work and then I capped it off with a very much needed holiday. Despite taking part in NaNoWriMo, I still want to get at least two chapters to you this month. I hope this new chapter was worth the wait.

“ **JANE**! JANE! JANE! _JANE_! JANE! **JANE**! JANE! **JANE**! JANE! _JANE_!” Darcy Lewis could be heard hurtling down the corridor screaming at the top of her lungs and Loki, not for the first time that week, heartily regretted agreeing to help Jane sort her things so that she could move to Fensalir. She had been worrying about Thor, she was concerned at leaving Erik without her around the place and she had an awful lot of very odd possessions that she had apparently designed and created herself. It gave him something to focus on, not seeing his mother daily, being quietly concerned about Thor and even more quietly concerned about Sif and wondering why Sigyn had not sent a letter recently.

‘Quietly’ was apparently not something Darcy Lewis understood or seemingly cared about, though.

“JANE! I did it! Look, a whole official letter of an offer of employment!” She had burst into the room and Loki privately thought that perhaps there was a nice new hole in Jane’s drywall from the doorknob. “It is all officially official. It even has a seal.”

“Darcy, that is wonderful,” Jane put down the whoojimawhatsit that she had been carefully packing away (something about measuring the ambient radiation that she theorised could be the key to interstellar travel, Loki had been occupied at the time thinking of his stolen night with Sif) and grabbed the letter. The woman scanned it quickly and then the two girls were squealing excitedly and embracing the other. 

“This means I get to stay!” Darcy chirped as they finally let go of each other. “Check me out, Loki - I’m the new desk jockey at the American Embassy.”

“Congratulations, albeit in a much lower decibel range than Jane’s,” he told her while hoping against hope that she would not be always at Fensalir visiting. Otherwise he might have to hire a very good soundproofing company. At least they would be in the still sumptuous granny annex rather than in the main building, Darcy could stay with them there rather than in one of the guest wings if she must. He liked her, but he believed she came best in small doses.

As it was, she then became useful, despite providing a lot of chatter about her new position and what it would entail for her and for Ian. The packing of boxes became quicker even with Jane’s extra critical eye over the way everything was done and the amount of packing peanuts used thanks to the third pair of hands. She had refused any magic to be used around her precious instruments in case something odd happened to her technology and ruined it or lost her data. Eventually, they were packed in to the rental truck along with the last of her personal items and Loki set off. Darcy had flatly refused to allow Jane to drive as she was notorious for getting distracted and Loki had done so, using Extra-Sensory Charms discreetly to navigate as he had neglected to tell them that he had not actually got a muggle driving licence.

Even so, he managed to navigate them almost safely (a couple of minor almost-incidents occurred that he was glad Jane did not see) and they pulled in through the gates of Fensalir. It felt strange, the two chattering and excited girls in the back with the equipment were in essence, his family and here he was bringing them home. It was not complete yet, it could not be without Thor there. He thrust the thought that even with Thor, if Sif were not there, it would not be complete. He could not afford to think that way. Instead he pulled the vehicle to a stop and called for the staff to help unload the equipment and take it to the granny annex that was to be Thor and Jane’s home. He rather felt himself wanting seclusion, it seemed to come upon him suddenly and he withdrew.

Leaving the two women to unpack the items Jane had brought as she refused to allow the staff to touch them, just out of fear that something might get knocked or broken, Loki retired to his library. It was a vast, almost cavernous room filled from floor to ceiling with tomes both muggle and magical. The magical ones were up on the highest shelves where a casual visitor would never see them and so Loki twirled his wand and pointed it at a circle on the floor. It lifted him gently in to the air until he had located the tome he felt like reading now. It was a treatise on the underpinning theories of starlight and the effect it could have on certain potions and spells and why. It was dry to most, but Loki found it was one of his favourites, some of the secrets within he was sure helped him to break the code in how to access his wolf form. He had applied the theorem of stars to moonlight and it had helped pave the way to the transformation all of those years ago.

As he pondered on one passage, Sif filled his mind instead. How far was she from him now? It was miles upon miles that he was sure and yet by starlight she was so close that the universe would laugh at it. Thor was there too and he knew nothing about it, but something tugged at his mind. There was something that he had missed, or maybe it was just the loneliness and confusion of not having them there with him. He was providing company for Jane and helping her with the wedding planning and yet his own mind was distracted and full of the feel of Sif, the taste of her lips. Was he never to feel them again? It was highly likely that she would go away and have time to think on it and decide that it was just a drunken moment surrounded by magic and the setting of it all. On the other hand, she might find the old adage ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ to be true and realise that maybe she wanted to try…

Was it too soon after splitting from Sigyn? Especially as he had not been the one to do the breaking up? It all seemed too much for even his mind, capable of grasping the most dry and difficult magical theorems and yet utterly unable to work out his own heart’s desires and feelings. It had been Sigyn that realised it and he had had to be told by her of how deep his feelings for Sif really delved.

What a fool he was. 

It was then that he was broken from his reverie by a scream and he realised that the world seemed different somehow. Jane was coming at him with a broom and Darcy was backing her up with what looked like a very expensive lamp.

Loki tried to move but found that he could not stand and just as Jane swatted down with the broom, he fell off of the chair and summoned his own natural shape back to himself. Jane screamed again and Darcy dropped his lamp and smashed it in to tiny little bits.

“You could treat other people’s property with more care,” he chided as he flashed his wand out at it. “That lamp cost more than your entire tuition did.”

“You … you were a snake!” Darcy shot back as her defence. “What was I supposed to do?”

“ _Not_ break my lamp?” Loki muttered and looked at Jane who was pale and had her hand on her chest but was looking at him in wonder.

“You were a snake.” She repeated Darcy’s words but without the accusatory tone, instead her voice was filled with wonder and her eyes with excitement.

“Really? I have never achieved that form before…” he mused. What had triggered the change and why had he not realised it?

“I did not know you could change form like that,” she stepped up close and was looking at his face critically. He rather hoped that his cheeks were not as red as they felt. 

“I can. That is a new form though,” he stepped back and picked up his fallen book to look at something that was not Jane and her look like she wanted to run experiments on him to unravel the riddle of his magic.

“What else can you change in to?” she asked and he set the book back on a little side table to prevent it from being dropped again.

“A wolf form,” he admitted but kept the other form to himself. He did not like his blue-skinned and horned form, he thought it made him look like an overgrown Cornish Pixie. It was his displeasure with the form that had caused him to seek to break the magical laws that stated each wizard could only attain one other animagus form. “I am what is known as an Animagus.”

“Can I see it?” Jane asked with excitement as Darcy put the newly restored lamp back to where she had grabbed it from and then came over with a look of curiosity on her face.

“If you even so much as hint that you want to experiment on me, I’ll bite you,” he warned.

“Deal.”

“Oh hey! If you bite her, will she turn too?” Darcy asked, looking excited by the prospect.

“I am an Animagus, not a werewolf Darcy, but if you want to see it I am sure I can introduce you to a real lycanthrope some day. Perhaps then we might get three nights a month without your chatter.”

“Pfft, you’d miss me and you know it,” she retorted and Loki refused to admit that he actually would. She amused him as much as she annoyed him and that was saying rather a lot.

“I would stand back, my wolf form is rather large,” he warned and the girls did so. Loki dropped to his hands and knees and as he did so, he smoothly transformed in to the large, shaggy wolf. He looked up at them through his distorted vision, even though he was used to it and Jane lifted a hand and stepped towards him reverentially. He decided to not bare his teeth, but allowed her instead to gently lay her hand on his fur as Thor had once done - she was also family, after all.

“You’re amazing,” she breathed and Loki was pleased, allowing her to card her fingers through his fur. He could smell her, she smelled of a very faint scent in his human form but in those form it was much more potent. He could smell no fear from her even though there was a tiny tang of it coming from Darcy behind her. Still, even from her, there was only a little hint of it.

Jane seemed to instinctively understand when enough was enough and she drew back. Loki stood again and resumed his human form.

“You smell of wheatgrass,” he told Darcy.

“Yummy breakfast,” she gave him the thumbs up.

“Is this something all wizards can do?” Jane asked, ignoring the banter around her.

“No. Only a very few can achieve such. I am the only one that I know of that has achieved more than one other form.” Jane’s excitement seemed to grow even more and he wondered just where she got the energy from to be so excited by these things so much.

“Do you think I can maybe research it too?”

“If you keep it a complete secret, yes. The Ministry of Magic would be on me so fast if they knew I allowed a muggle access to such things.”

“Promise.”

“Cross my heart.” Darcy added. “Not that I have anyone to tell.”

“Then it is a deal, sister.” Jane beamed at him, it was the first time he had ever addressed her so and Loki found that it helped a lot with his missing Thor and pining for Sif. He still had Jane he still had Darcy, he still had his mother. He was not alone and he could stand the wait and the separation.


	8. Science Bros.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki and Jane bond over science.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few more student OCs (some named, some not) will be popping up from time to time but none have any real bearing on things much like the Hogwarts students in the previous instalment.
> 
> For those wondering where Thor, Sif and W3 are, they will appear next in Chapter Ten, I promise it will be explosive.

Loki looked up rather reverentially at the building before him, books clutched in hand and many people waving at the newcomers to tell them where they needed to go. He had needed this, something to focus on to keep his mind off of Sif and off of Thor and even off of Sigyn. Wondering where they were now, what they were doing and why. He spent far too long wondering if they wondered about him back and Jane Foster had been a real tether to reality in the absence of those he loved. She and Darcy had worked a little muggle magic of their own to get some recommendations in to the institute that had never heard of Hogwarts and did not care if he scored an O in all of his N.E.W.T.s and he stepped through the doors and began his life as a university student.

The throng of people he was used to, the topics of conversation he overheard less so. People were still people and more importantly, teenagers were still teenagers and they tended to discuss the same sort of things. The minutiae of other people’s lives and what they got up to at the weekend. The places, names and people were different, but he did not think it would take too long for him to settle in.

Once he was situated, signed in and accounted for, he made his way to his first class - a class held by Dr. Erik Selvig. He had met Erik several times and yet the man was always a little wary around him. Loki did not know why, but figured the man just did not really much like being bothered and drawn away from his studies to explain things outside of the classroom.

Selecting a seat, he spotted Dr. Foster come in and sit at the back, notebook in hand. She gave him a little friendly wave but did not sit next to him and he was grateful. The last thing he needed was for his new peers to see him being too cosy with the staff and teaching assistants here on his first day. The lecture hall filled and the chatter died away as the Professor entered the room. He wrote his name on the board and Loki could not help but smile at the traditionalism of the moment.

“My name is Doctor Erik Selvig and this is 'Introduction to Astrophysics and Cosmology'. If you are here thinking this is 'Introduction to Astrology' then I suggest you leave now. This is hard, challenging work and you keep up or you leave.” Loki was impressed by the man’s stern start and he wondered if that was just to save himself from trying to have to help hopeless students who had no chance of actually succeeding in such a class. A quick look out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jane beaming at all of the students and he smiled inwardly, imagining that must have been the exact same expression she must have had on her very first day in this class as well. 

“Astrophysics is the study of the physics of the universe. Cosmology is the study of the origin, evolution, and eventual fate of the universe. They are intertwined and they are both broad areas of study…” Loki began quietly making furious notes, already absorbed in the cadence and rhythm of the man’s words and adding occasional footnotes to remind himself to check his old Hogwarts school books for correlations.

By the time class ended, he let the other students file out, even going so far to be friendly as to help the girl that had sat next to him to retrieve her pencil that had rolled under the chair. Thor would have been proud to see him at least trying and not ignoring those around him. Once the room was cleared, Jane made her way over to him.

“How was your first class?”

“Good, I think I am going to like this,” he replied. “Dr. Selvig really seems to know his stuff.”

“He does. He’ll soften right up as well once the inevitable attrition begins. Once the class is filled with only those who can manage the work, he gets much more like his usual self.”

“It is interesting to hear all this stuff from a muggle point of view, too,” he mused aloud. “I’ve only ever learned it from a magical point of view, much more basis on which moon to pick certain herbs by for magical potency or which stars should be aligned for most effectiveness of a potion to be stirred under. That sort of thing.”

“Sounds complicated,” Jane’s eyes sparkled with interest and Loki laughed, approving more and more of the woman his brother had picked with each passing day. 

“I have a feeling that is Jane-speak for ‘please please lend me those books, Loki’.”

“It is, but first, you have no more classes today, right? Why not come out to the lab with me?” she offered and Loki accepted happily. She led him through the Professor’s door and swiped her badge through the reader to get access to the secure lab. 

“Erik? I brought Loki with me, I hope that is okay,” she called out as she pulled on her lab coat and passed a spare to Loki.

“Hmm? Oh yes, hello again Loki.” Erik looked up from the apparatus that he was apparently tweaking with an assistant that Loki recognised as Darcy’s boyfriend, Ian.

“If you use the drill chuck key on that, it works much better,” she advised her mentor and Loki followed her over to where her desk was. A very enjoyable afternoon was spent with Jane showing him what she and Erik were working on. It appeared to be a custom apparatus that they had designed between them to capture and analyse the Small Magellanic Cloud dwarf galaxy, using the theory of cepheid variable distance indicators to determine if travel could be possible between stars some day. 

Jane explained that they had had to angle the apparatus just so when they activated it as it was easier to see from the southern hemisphere and Loki offered up a magical theory of how apparating worked and they furiously began debating on whether a muggle variant could be found and if so, how it could be applied to her theorems.

Deciding to travel back to Fensalir together they walked through the door debating on whether to order take-away or not, they found Frigga was seated comfortably in her old favourite parlour.

“Mother?” Loki asked, worried that something might have gone wrong but when she smiled, all worry was wiped away.

“Hello dear,” she enveloped them both in a warm hug and then sat back down. “How was your first day?”

“Enlightening,” he replied and he saw that she seemed to relax a little as she looked at his face. He knew she had been concerned whether this new interest would really take root or not.

“I know that look - on both of you. I think between you and Jane here, you might just break the world as we know it,” she chuckled. “I did have another reason for coming other than just checking on you though.”

“Is Thor okay?” the asked in unison.

“As far as I know, yes. Colonel Hymirson was by yesterday to see your father and though he cannot give us any specifics, he said the reports were coming in fine.” They both visibly let their breath go without even realising that they had held it. If Thor was okay, then Sif was okay as well and that calmed his worry somewhat. They were still out on an unknown military mission, after all.

“I got a letter for you this morning, Loki darling. It is from Sigyn.” The wind was knocked out of him again and his mother handed him the heavy envelope, postmarked from Tasmania.


	9. Thank-you note

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to those of you who are following this story. Please accept my apologies for the delay in getting this up. Those of you who follow my tumblr will have an idea of what has been going on these past few weeks, so thank you for sticking with this. I will do my best to get this back to the usual schedule.

Loki took the letter with trembling hands and he stared at it for what seemed like a very long time, but in truth he knew not how long he stood there.

"Might I be excused?" He asked, collecting himself again for a moment.

"Of course. I'll go and see to dinner, come Jane," the two women wheeled out of the room and Loki sat a little too precisely in his chair before carefully opening the letter.

_Dear Loki,_

_I hope this letter finds you soon. I'm sending it by muggle post - my first ever attempt!_

_Anyway, I'm well. It is lovely here. I've done so much already! I didn’t know that living as a muggle could be so fun. I feel a little sad that I missed out on doing stuff like this before, but Father would never have allowed it. Speaking of my father, I hope he hasn’t been a bother to you. I will write him and Mother a letter after this to let them know I am safe and well._

_I went sightseeing, there is so much to see here. You would probably love the views but not the heat I think! It is very hot and bright here, everything is so much more laid back._

_I’ve even been scuba diving! It is so much easier to do it with magic but it was quite fun when I got over my fear of relying on a small pressurised tank of air to breathe. One of the guys there, Theoric, helped me with getting the breathing action right. Loki, the things I saw down there were enchanting. No mermaids or grindylows, but muggles have found a magic all of their own. I joined up with some backpackers and we’ve gone over to Tasmania for a bit to see some more stuff there._

_Theoric is even going to teach me how to surf today. Can you imagine it? Me,_ surfing _!_

_Well, I have to go if I am to write this letter to my parents. I should have done it before now, I know. I just did not want them to talk me in to coming home - this is really the best thing I have ever done._

_I don’t know when I will be back, but I hope you are having as good a time as I am._

_Lots of love, Sigyn._

Theoric? Who in the name of Salazar Slytherin himself was Theoric? Loki tossed the letter aside, breathing somewhat heavily. He was happy for her, truly he was. She seemed to be having fun and he had been left behind and so was more able to sit and seethe and mope.

After a long moment of reasoning with himself and telling himself that he and Sigyn had split up and he had no right to get jealous or angry or, well, everything else he was feeling right at this moment, he picked up the letter and read it again.

He forced himself to focus on her happiness as much as he could. He had good things going for him here as well and he tried to picture the look on her face when she received his reply letter. She was probably anxious for him and covering it up with cheer as she usually did. She had always been his rock and he still felt a little adrift without her around. Still, she had been right. They needed to move on, to grow and to embrace their newfound freedom. They had to experience _life_. He went and had dinner with Frigga and Jane and even let them read the letter. His mother’s eyes flickered over to him at the mention of this Theoric, but he gave nothing away. 

“It seems like she made the right decision to defy her father,” Frigga said as she refolded the paper and handed it back over to Loki, who pocketed it.

“She always was too spirited for his rigid rules and ideals,” he agreed as he lifted his pumpkin juice and took a sip.

“He is not the only one who thinks they are always right,” she sighed and then smiled at Jane who went slightly pink in the cheeks.

“Well, I am done. I should go and write my reply.” Loki stood and kissed his mother on the cheek. “I will see you soon.”

He left the room and let the two women do whatever it was they had cooked up between them to do this evening - likely wedding planning that Loki was not in the mood for - he quickly went to his rooms and locked the door. He sat at his desk and smoothed out a piece of parchment, before feeling foolish and putting it away. A moment later, he had some lined muggle paper and a fountain pen in hand. He preferred them to biros as they felt more like the eagle feather quills he was used to from all of those years at school. 

He stared at the paper, wondering how to start. What could he even call her any more? Could he start with ‘dear Sigyn’? She was still dear _to_ him, but she was no longer ‘his’ dear. Why were words so difficult? When had he ever really been at a loss as for what to say? The stare morphed in to a glare as he looked at the blank paper as if it were his mortal enemy.

Standing up suddenly and pushing away from his desk, he curled up on his bed in wolf form. It was easier to think in this body as it was not so prone to the emotions surging through him when he was in human shape. Funny, really, as so many had thought him a blank slate - little more than a homunculous with occasional flashes of mischief or temper. He kept as much of his emotion bottled inside as much as he could so very few knew exactly how mercurial his feelings really were.

He could smell Sigyn in the room still in this form, from some of the things she had given him, but then another scent caught him. _Sif_. 

His wolf eyes blinked open and he sniffed again. He could smell Sif, but very faintly. He followed the scent to his desk drawer and changed back to a human form to open it. Inside were a few dried blooms from his mother’s garden and he recalled the feel of her, the smell of her and the shape his hand curled in to to cup her neck. He had entirely forgotten that he had saved these, the tender feelings swept away by her hesitation, her having to leave on this damnable mission.

He was not sure if her absence helped his confusion, his feelings for her. Sigyn had been right in that he had fallen for Sif a long time past, but she was not here to guide him, to help him figure it out. Figure out exactly how he felt so that he could put it in to words. He laughed at the notion of asking his ex-girlfriend for advice on how to woo the woman he loved; what a fool he truly was.

Then it hit him.

He picked up his pen and sat down, writing out a few scant words with a flourish. She would understand.

_My dearest Sigyn,_

_Thank you._

_Loki._

He placed it in an envelope, addressed it with the details that Sigyn had provided in to ‘from Sender’ and handed it off to one of the staff to post for him. With a smile, he showered and headed to bed.

_____

“LOKI! WAKE UP!” Someone was hammering on the window to his bedroom and he bolted up in shock. The grounds were warded against any that might wish them harm and he could not place the voice in his startled state. He peered out of the window and saw.... a young girl on a thestral. It was Aayala Greengrass.

“What are you _doing_ here?” he hissed as he threw open the window, the cold hitting his nude chest uncomfortably.

“I had no one else to go to! You have to help me.” She urged.

“What is so urgent that you stole a thestral and escaped school to see me of all people?”

“I had a vision. Hogun is in danger - as is your brother and their friends. They don’t know it but they are going to trigger a bomb or landmine or something when they try to get in to the building they’re scouting out. Hurry! There isn’t much time left, I wasted too much getting out of school.”

“You’re a seer? You actually saw this?” He demanded.

“I did. No one there would believe me if I told them, I’m not supposed to know about my cousin’s mission. Please, I can show you where they are.”

Loki nodded, scrambling out of bed and quickly darting behind a screen to throw on some proper clothes and a robe. His wand in hand, he pointed at his grate and let it roar in to flame. Aayala had described the place she had seen in her vision as he did so.

“No, take the thestral. I can get home through the Floo - you don’t have time to find a grate and navigate from there. Save him, please. Save Hogun.”

“Fine. Go to Gladsheim, my mother can get you back to Hogwarts from there. Promise me.”

“You first.”

“I promise I will do everything in my power to save Hogun. Gladsheim, grate three - password ‘ _anguis_ ’.”

“Then I promise, too. Go!” She half-pushed him out of his window and as he swung on to the thestral and kicked in to the air, he saw her vanish in to the emerald flames of the Floo Network. If Hogun was in danger, that meant so were Thor and Sif. He had to do whatever he could and put his trust in the little Greengrass girl, he just hoped he would not be too late.


	10. No capes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Graphic depictions of violence, warfare, death and injuries.
> 
> If you want to skip this chapter, you will be able to catch up in less bloody fashion in the next installment.

Thestrals were _very_ fast, he had to give the Greengrass girl credit for the good sense in bringing it. They had all heard the tales of the time Harry Potter and his friends had done the same to reach London, but she remembered and put it in to action. The lights of London whirled below him as he headed for the English Channel and saw the waters sweep by so far below him. He was guided by her vision, but also by the feeling that he was going in the right direction. He just hoped that he would not be too late and arrive to find that he had been unable to keep his word to the girl. He could not think of any further implications as it turned his stomach to do so.

Land appeared beneath him and sped away just as fast underneath the hooves of the thestral. The creature ate up the land to a speed so great it almost boggled even Loki’s mind to comprehend what he was seeing streak by beneath him. The cold wind ripped at his exposed hands but he held on regardless, not stopping to warm them. There was no time for such trivialities as comfort or warmth right now.

His feeling of connection to Thor seemed to be increasing and he pointed the thestral towards where his gut told him to go. Greengrass’ directions did not help too much at this speed as he could not really make out much other than a mountain range or huge lake as he sped over them at height. The pull intensified and Loki descended a little and wrapped a spell of disillusionment around himself and his steed as he slowed a touch to locate the source of his connection - to where Thor was in danger. He spied a large, utilitarian building that looked like some sort of milk factory but it was where the pull was coming from and he knew it to be a façade. He was about to land and make his way stealthily on foot when he saw a small group moving with agility, stealth and purpose. It had to be them. He moved towards them again and a thrill of fear shot through him as he spied that Volstagg was about to step on some sort of hidden device in the ground.

“LOCOMOTOR!” he screamed out the command as he whipped his wand at Volstagg and leaped down from the thestral, his disillusionment charm breaking with the force of the other spell. A horrific cracking noise was heard as Volstagg was thrown in to the air leg, first and dropped to the side. Another flick of the wand and the IUD was ripped from the ground and flung in to the air where it exploded with force. His arms were flung wide and a non-verbal shield flew from his fingertips and encompassed as much as he could, but he could not make it reach them all in time and he heard a wrenching and splattering sound that threatened to tear his heart out. Someone or someones had been hurt and he had no idea who - but any of them would be awful.

Gun barrels lit up the night sky as the enemy peppered the area with bullets, one tearing through Loki’s arm and making him scream out in pain as he struggled to keep up his shield. He knew he had gone almost purple in the face from his effort and pain but his determination doubled as he saw Sif try to aid a wounded soldier he did not know, only to crumple with a bullet in her abdomen. The screams of the injured or dying filled the air and Loki dropped to his knees with the force of the effort keeping the shield up.

“Loki?!” It was Thor, who struggled over to him across the unforgiving terrain, his voice full of disbelief.

“Thor, get them out of here! The thestral can take two, I’ll do what I can here. GO!” Thor nodded, although his look said that if they survived some serious questions would be asked and he loaded Hogun, who was bleeding profusely from a wound in his leg and Volstagg whose leg was certainly broken on to the steed - which he could apparently see with no issue.

“Take them to St. Mungo’s carefully, please, good steed.” Loki asked and the thestral whickered in reply and took off, fleeing the reach of the bullets quickly and the sound of Volstagg shrieking in fear left them abruptly. Loki was forced further down towards the ground under the pressure of his wound, blood loss and the expenditure of powerful magic and he heard Thor shout in dismay. 

“Charles!” Fury seemed to suffuse his brother even as Loki himself felt the telltale signs that he would black out soon. If he fainted, his shield would fail and they would all be killed by the bullets he was currently defecting by the skin of his teeth. Rain began to pour from the skies, pounding down in a huge storm that seemed to come from nowhere. Through the blackness encroaching on his vision, he saw Thor get struck by a bolt of lightning and he struggled to stay awake. Thor could not die. He _could not die_ , not from something so stupid. He didn’t. Sif was at his side, holding him up and getting him covered in her blood and they watched in utter disbelief as Thor stood and pointed at the building and released the lightning he had taken in and blew their gunners in to the air.

Loki clung to Sif and held on to consciousness with everything he had as Thor brought down fiery justice on those who had been firing at them and he finally lost his struggle and fainted in her arms. When he came to, he realised he was cradled in Sif’s arms while Thor hovered over him.

“What the hell are you doing here? You almost got killed! How did you even know where to find us?”

“Shut up, Thor,” he groaned and pushed himself up despite being more than happy to lay there in Sif’s arms, he was wounded and some of the others were as well. “I’m here, you aren’t dead and I have to get you back to hospital. After that, I find out how in the hell _you threw lightning_.”

“Charles is dead and Fandral is almost there.” Sif told him. “Get Fandral out of here first.”

Loki pulled a magically protected vial from his pocket that he had hurriedly secreted in there before he left and put a few drops on to his arm. He watched as did the others who could as his wound healed and the bullet was pulled magically from his arm and fell on to the ground, inert and useless.

“Where is Fandral?” Sif pointed and he made his way over and used up almost all of the dittany on the man, who screamed in pain before fainting clean away.

“He is stable for now but I didn’t have enough. Thor?” Loki panted from the strain. “Bring everyone alive here, around me. Everyone must hold hands.”

“But-”

“Just do it, Thor.” With a lot of effort and several grunts of pain, they got everyone still present to Loki and they all clasped hands.

“No one let go, for any reason. Got it? Make sure Fandral is secure.”

“Loki, are you going to apparate us _all_?” Sif asked, shocked as she realised what he had planned.

“If I don’t, your friend will die. I can’t make the trip twice, I haven’t the strength.” He admitted, but omitted the fact that he likely did not have the strength to do this now either - but if he did not, they would be injured in enemy territory and unable to flee. It was all or nothing.

“No one let go.” He repeated and squeezed Sif’s hand and he saw her squeeze Thor’s beside her. He closed his eyes and used every last iota of magical energy and physical energy he had and disapparated them all further than he ever had before and with more passengers than was wise. They arrived in the lobby of St. Mungo’s and Loki sighed in relief as he quickly counted heads and spotted the thestral with Volstagg and Hogun. No one seemed to have been splinched at first glance but then, they were all already wounded so he could not tell for sure.

“What is the meaning of this? You can’t bring muggles here!” A nurse yelled at the group.

“My name is Loki Friggajarson, I will deal with the paperwork. Just heal them.” He snapped at her and her eyes widened. His mother was one of the patrons of the hospital and they recognised the name. He looked over at Sif and smiled weakly. “I did it. I kept my promise.” Then he fainted and had no idea what her reply was.


	11. Legal eagle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple of very familiar faces turn up at St. Mungo's...but why are they there?

Strange dreams plagued him and just as he started to figure out that they were dreams, he was plunged back in to the unknown. Sometimes he saw faces above him and then the darkness closed back in. A strange feeling of disconnectedness made him feel nauseated and then he slipped back in to oblivion. He knew not how many cycles of this he was trapped in and he fought to get out.

When he finally awoke he found instead of the faces of his loved ones, two annoyed and grizzled-looking Aurors watching over him.

"He's awake," one of them grunted and the other left the room, probably to notify his superiors.

"Where'm I?" He asked, his tongue thick and voice raspy from lack of use.

"St. Mungos. Now be quiet, I'm not supposed to talk to prisoners."

Loki blinked in confusion. Prisoner? St. Mungos? He thought hard and remembered the fight. He had brought muggles to the wizard hospital because they had a chance to save them.

"Where are the others? Sif? My brother?" No reply from the guard, but then two people walked in to the room and he was pretty sure he was still under and hallucinating. Harry Potter and Hermione Weasley were in his hospital room.

"Leave us," Potter ordered the guard.

"But, Sir, he is dangerous..." the poor man trailed off when he remembered just who he was talking to.

"We will be perfectly fine, thank you." Mrs. Weasley opened the door pointedly and he left.

"Mr. Friggajarson, it is good to see you again, albeit in such circumstances." Harry Potter told him.

"Indeed, we have not yet met officially, but I was moved by your story." Hermione Weasley added and Loki wondered if he had officially lost the plot.

"My story?" He asked, voice still raspy and the woman stepped forward and helped him drink a sip or two of water so that he could speak more clearly. "What happened? Just how much trouble am I in?"

"Less than you would be had Miss Greengrass not been retrieved by Professor Longbottom when your mother returned her to school. She told him of her vision and he hastened to fetch us."

"He knew you would need legal counsel and who better to have advise than the Head of Magical Law Enforcement?" Potter added. "That and my wife is currently stomping about the Daily Prophet offices like a raging hippogriff getting some puff pieces written by her colleagues for the ‘trial by mob’.”

“I don’t understand, why go to all this trouble?”

“There is a provision in the law that says that magic can be used in front of muggles in the case of life and death. Granted, you walked right in to a deadly fight, but once there you would be protected by that clause. We just need to prove that your walking in to the fight was on the right side of the law.”

“If I didn’t, my friends and my brother would have died.” Loki protested.

“Which will be the crux of the main argument, yes.” Hermione finished his thought for him.

“She’ll get you off the charges,” Harry added “The Wizengamot tried me once for performing magic in front of a muggle but it was dismissed as well.”

“I shouldn’t have brought them here,” he sighed.

“They might have survived in a muggle hospital, but you would not have.” Loki blinked up at the woman. “That young woman, Sif, told us what you did. How you returned them to this hospital. You used up so much magic, we feared you might be the first wizard in history to burn himself out and turn in to a squib - if you even survived.”

Loki reeled and he felt his nausea rising again. He had almost lost his magic? Part of him knew that he would give it up gladly if it would save Sif and Thor, but still, the thought terrified him.

“You should rest and there are a few people who are very eager to see you.” Hermione stood again and led Harry out of the door, Loki barely had time to let what he had heard sink in when the door crashed open and Thor rushed in, closely followed by his mother and he thought he saw a glimpse of Sif before his vision was obscured by two sets of blond hair.

“My little boy,” Frigga’s voice was thick with tears. “I nearly lost you both.”

“You didn’t, Mother.” Loki tried for his usual tone of suffering but he could not quite find it. Not when he was so lucky to be alive and not when she had lost so much already.

“Don’t ever do that again.”

“I can’t promise that.” She pulled back and stroked his face.

“I told your father I would return with news. I’ll be back later,” she promised and took her leave.

“You saved our lives.” It was the first thing Thor said since entering the room and he looked like he was straining to hold in anger.

“You could say ‘thank you, brother mine’, you know.”

“You _idiot_. You could have _died_!”

“So could you!”

“I’m a soldier! You are a civilian!”

“What of it? I didn’t go there to save you anyway. I went to save Hogun, you just got lucky.” Loki snapped, tired and not really in the mood to be yelled at for his act of heroism.

“Hogun doesn’t need saving!”

“Oh yeah? Ask his cousin if I should have let him die.” The anger gave way to an awkward silence.

“I can’t look at you right now. I’m going to go… I should tell Jane that you are awake.” Thor said and Loki wanted to stop him, wanted to apologise. Thor was scared for him, he knew that, his fear showing through anger but Loki was tired, drained and scared himself. He would be a good brother later… maybe. He sighed as Thor left the room and Sif stepped forward.

“I suppose you came to tell me that I am an idiot as well,” he looked up at her.

“Yes, I did.” She agreed and sat on the edge of his bed. “A complete idiot who could have got himself killed. Who could have lost his magic. Who could have exposed his whole world to the muggles - _and_ who _did_ get himself in trouble with the law.”

“Thanks for the pep talk. You should go in to business.”

“But… you are _my_ complete idiot. If you’ll still have me.” Loki opened his mouth to protest, realised what she had said and stopped. He blinked up at her in shock and then she had leaned in and was kissing him and well, nothing else mattered very much at all.


	12. The Wizengamot

Once Loki was recovered enough to leave St. Mungos, he was summarily taken to the Wizengamot for his trial. He had spent a lot of the week with Hermione Weasley going over the story until she knew every detail perfectly. Charles' remains had been returned to the UK and the funeral was in a day's time. Sif had been there with him but they had decided to keep their understanding a secret until he was recovered as they did not want to distract from the looming trial and funeral - or, if he got jailed and sent to Azkaban.

He walked, chained and wandless, in to the Wizengamot chamber and sat in the chair as he was bound. Only Frigga sat in the family area as she was the sole witch. He saw some familiar faces in the rows of those who would condemn or exonerate him. Harry Potter sat close to Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was running the proceedings and he saw a few instances of Weasley red, but he also saw his old prefect and Phillidus Ogden seated there with Sigyn's father as well.

The case was easy to follow as the two lawyers argued their points but a lot of it was lost on Loki in the concern for his own welfare. One particularly terrifying moment occurred when Ogden demanded that either all with connection to Hermione recuse themselves from the vote or she did from the bench - when she skilfully turned it back on him and said she would only recuse herself if he and several of his cronies did. Shacklebolt demanded calm and threatened to declare a mistrial if they could not agree. Hermione was allowed to defend him, but Ogden remained in the voting pool.

It all seemed to hang on individual Wizengamot member's feelings on muggles until Hermione called in Aayala Greengrass. She was accompanied by Professor Longbottom. When questioned, she was adamant that Loki was only even in danger because of her vision.

"He would not have even known about it to be in danger if I had not told him" she stated, defiantly.

"He knew the law. He should not have interfered." The opposing counsel replied.

"Except that I forced him to promise he would save my cousin." Aayala retorted saucily.

"We cannot rely on the word of a schoolgirl."

"No, you did not believe me either when I was tried in this room so many years ago," Potter piped up and effectively stunned everyone in to silence, remembering the disgrace of Fudge and Umbridge.

"Agreed, we cannot ignore testimony because it comes from a minor." Weasley agreed.

The vote came and while there were dissenters, led by Ogden et al, Loki was acquitted of all charges and he left the courtroom with his mother in a state of astonishment. 

They apparated back to Fensalir and gave the good news. The mood was still somber despite the win as Charles' funeral was set for the next day. Loki was free but the soldier was still dead. The one he had been unable to save. 

Everyone made to leave and Loki was about to disappear in to the gardens to visit Jormungandr in the lake when Fandral pulled him aside.

"Thanks. For saving my life." He told him and Loki blinked in astonishment, they had never really got along all that well before and avoided each other discreetly. "For saving the others too - and for trying to save Charles. I heard what you actually did from Sif. With the whole... magic transportation... thing."

"You're welcome. Although if I do it again I'll be sent to Azkaban for sure so.... be careful, I guess."

"Right."

"Indeed." An awkward silence followed, Fandral patted Loki's shoulder just as awkwardly and then left.

The next day dawned cold but sunny and Loki dressed in a tailored black suit and heavy overcoat with a green check scarf and joined Thor and Jane at breakfast. The trip to the crematorium was all-but silent and they met the others in Kensington on the way.

The funeral was beautiful and somber as the rows of military men lined the way. Loki's role in the rescue was turned muggle and granted to Charles but he did not mind. He felt guilty at being unable to save him, especially when he saw Charles' parents and sister grieving. He suddenly realised the girl he had helped in his first class retrieve her pencil was that sister and he swallowed down the guilt as much as he could.

Sif was crying silent tears and Thor took her hand, but she gave the other to Loki. None of them noticed that Tyr and Izdaja saw the movement.

Afterward, they went back to Fensalir just the nine of them, girlfriends and wives included. Thor sat with Jane, Volstagg and Gunnhilde while Sif, Loki, Fandral, Sabrina and Hogun all sat around the table regaling each other with tales of happier times with Charles.

The mood was broken when an owl flew in with a newspaper, bearing the headline

_Friggajarson, the hero._

"What the..?" Loki started to read about the trial, a piece written by Ginevra Potter herself.

_This trial, was therefore, a farce_ , Minister Hermione Weasley said after the conclusion. _Had this been a feat of magic to save witches and wizards, he would have been lauded a hero. Had this been so, no trial would have even been called. He would have received the Order of Merlin, First Class at the least, but because he risked life, limb and his very magical being to rescue muggles, we brand him a criminal. We threaten him with a snapped wand, expulsion from our society and Azkaban. Have we really not moved on from the misguided actions of Voldemort and his deluded following?_

__"What does it mean?" Thor asked him._ _

__"It means I'll be laying low for a while, I appear to have kicked an angry hornet's nest" he replied, feeling uncomfortable._ _


	13. Breaking the Statute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Colonel Hymirson wants answers but to give them would break the Statute of Secrecy 1689/92. Sif must decide whether to stand by her new boyfriend or her father and commander as it seems they are unwilling to work in harmony.

“Sweep the room for bugs,” Colonel Hymirson snapped as he swept in to Fensalir to Warrant Officer Izdaja who smartly stepped in behind him.

"You do realise that this is my home?" Loki snapped at them, having been woken by the wards when they entered the grounds. Once he had realised who was invading his space, he sent a patronus to wake up Thor in his guest quarters and the others that had stayed the night.

"Clear, Sir," Izdaja confirmed, closing down her handheld detector.

"Father..." Sif began but he glared at her and she quieted.

"I am here on behalf of national security." He intoned and the soldiers in the room snapped to attention and the chain of command automatically.

"I'd prefer you hold your meetings elsewhere." Loki glared at him despite knowing Sif would be torn between them.

"As would I. This concerns you." The man’s voice was tight and angry.

"Me?" 

"You. How did you know of the plans? How did you travel to the precise location of my people undetected? I intend to plug the leak."

"You can do what you like outside of this park. This is private property and you have not been invited." Loki challenged him right back, refusing to answer the question. “However, I _do_ invite you and your lackey to leave immediately.”

“I need no warrant to enter your home. This is a matter of national security and my actions have been sanctioned by those you cannot countermand.”

“If you do not get out of my house this moment-”

“Sir.” Thor stood and interrupted an argument that would likely end in nothing good at all. “There is a reason that my brother cannot answer your questions, more than reasons - a law. I cannot say more as I am bound by that same law, but please accept my assurance as the commander of this unit and as the son of your most trusted friend.”

“There is no law that overrides my being here and asking these questions.”

“Oh, but there are. You small minded folks always think you know everything, every matter.” Loki stood and those in the room felt something flowing from him - even those who knew not what the feeling was. “There are powers in this realm you know nothing of. Rules and laws govern those powers and you would do well to not try to fathom it out.”

“I am no lawyer but I am very well aware of all of the pertinent laws of secrecy and espionage regarding to our realm and the Commonwealth. Do not try to worm out of this, Friggajarson. Answer my questions or I shall take you in.”

“Just try it.”

“Loki, no!” Sif stood and stepped in front of him and addressed her father. “Please, Sir. I am aware of the law that Thor speaks of. I, too, am bound by the secrecy that it involves - even from yourself as my superior officer or as my father. If you take him in, I fear what might be the consequences.”

“If this is S.H.I.E.L.D., they have no authority over us.” Colonel Hymirson retorted. “I expected better of you.”

“This is not S.H.I.E.L.D., Sir. This is something else entirely.”

“Odinson, expect to be written up for not releasing pertinent information in your report.”

“Sir.” Thor agreed, sadly, but Loki got fired up again.

“Do anything of the sort and you might not like the consequences” he threatened.

“Take him in, Izdaja, for threatening an officer of the realm and obstructing the investigation of a matter of national security. If _any_ of you interfere, you will all be court-martialled.” Loki laughed and allowed the woman to get close, before he flouted the Statute of Secrecy anyway in his ire and disapparated to behind the colonel, kicking his feet out from under him. In the second it had taken to complete, everyone stared at the man sitting on his backside on the plush carpet. The Statute be damned, he was not about to be insulted in his own home.

“I believe,” he spotted Izdaja reach for her weapon and he gripped his wand more tightly “you were about to leave.” The deafening sound of a gunshot echoed around the room but Loki had been prepared for it, having seen her move to unholster her firearm. He had cast an non-verbal spell of protection and the bullet bounced off harmlessly and hit the ceiling. 

“Stop!” Thor shouted and stood in front of Loki, arms spread wide. To his astonishment, all of the others, save Sif did the same and built a human wall in front of him. Sif dropped to the floor and swept Izdaja’s feet from under her, stealing her weapon and as the woman hit the floor, put her foot on her abdomen firmly.

“You will all be court martialled for this.”The Colonel hissed from the floor.

“You won’t even remember this meeting,” Loki countered and pointed his wand at the man.

“NO! Loki, don’t - please!” Sif turned to him, expression stricken. “He is still my father. I know what you mean to do, but if he feels we should be punished for this, then we should be punished for this.”

“Sif,” her father intoned from the floor “I never would have suspected you to commit such treason.”

“This is not treason, father. Loki saved our lives. Even if you were to try to use all of your contacts in the military and MI6, this would only end in pain and ruin. Loki is just protecting himself, but there are many who would silence you to protect themselves if you dig too far.”

“You mean magic users,” Izdaja hissed from under Sif’s boot. “So they were real after all.”

“Yes, I am real as are legion of us and I suggest you do as I requested earlier and get out of my house before I change my mind about not obliviating you. The Magical Law Enforcement will not be so kind.” He saw Sif give him a sad but grateful look as he lowered his wand.

The two were allowed to their feet and Thor escorted them out, but the mood was somber and everyone made their excuses and left. Thor woke Jane and took her out and Sif went to the kitchen to get some tea while Loki set about removing the bullet and repairing the hole it had left in his ceiling. 

“Thank you,” she told him as she set the tea things out. “For not hurting my father - other than his pride.”

“He has you to thank for that - and you alone.” Loki said pointedly and he saw her cheeks redden a shade even as her lips were tight.

“I wish that you two could get along.”

“That is unlikely to happen, he wanted you to marry Thor. I can’t see his being so thrilled if you were to tell him you and I were together. I am the wrong brother, after all.”

“I know. It just makes me sad, I love him dearly.”

“I know.” They both sipped their tea in an uncomfortable silence.

“Would you really have obliviated him?” She asked, putting her cup back on the saucer with a clink.

“I have only ever promised to not obliviate my loved ones.” Loki reminded her.

“Would you add him to your list? For my sake?”

 _For you I would do anything_ he thought as he copied her movement and set his cup down. “If you wish it of me.” Sif stood and walked over to him and knelt down, brushing a lock of hair from his face and she pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

“I do.”

He smiled at her and then reached in to kiss her much more passionately, the recent explosive encounter having set his heart racing as he thought of what she had risked for him, what she had done, torn between her father, her duty, the secrecy that had been imposed on her by the Statute and by her growing feelings for Loki himself. Half a cup of soothing tea was never going to be enough to settle him - especially not with her kneeling in front of him with her eyes so bright and her lips so soft.

He pulled her up on to his lap as they sat on the large chaise lounge and their kisses got deeper and then, before he really even knew it was happening, she had wriggled out of her top and his own had joined her’s on the floor beside them. He would risk the interrogation of the Ministry again if it meant he could hold her like this. His eyes raked down her body and took in the pretty seafoam green lacy bra she was wearing. He tipped himself up on to his elbows and kissed along the edges of her bra and the softly exhaled moan she gave sent his loins afire.

More kisses, more touches and they peeled off their clothing and revealed themselves to the other. Neither noticed a serving girl open the door, see what was happening and hurriedly back out again silently with an amused grin on her beetroot face. He pulled her down to him and they rolled so that he stretched out on top of her.

“We can stop now, if you want,” he told her though it cost him a great deal of effort to do so when most of his wet dreams since he had first seen her had been along these lines.

“You don’t need to hold yourself back,” she told him, eyes sparkling with desire.

“Okay,” he breathed as evenly as he could to stop himself from just entering her quickly despite the urgency thrumming through his aroused body. He snatched up his discarded wand and muttered, the tip of his his wand glowing blue and then feeling a tingling sensation in his balls.

“I didn’t feel anything,” Sif told him, brow crinkling in confusion.

“I didn’t cast it on you. I would never cast a spell on you without your permission...other than that time I first Apparated with you.”

“Well,” she kissed the end of his nose and chuckled “without wanting to sound as cheesy as a tub of Philadelphia on a hot day - you already did.”

“That was terrible,” he laughed back and kissed up her neck, body tingling from her words and not his contraceptive spell. His kissed moved along her jaw and then as their lips met again, she shifted against him and the tip of his erection brushed against her. Then he was engulfed in her and he groaned in to her mouth as he slid in to her warm, tight, wet body for the first time. She felt better than even his most fevered dreams could come up with and he could not quite believe that this was really happening. He ground against her cervix and then he pulled out and pushed back in again, his whole mind feeling stuffed with cotton wool as he could hardly fathom the feelings coursing through him. 

As they thrust together, she lifted her knees and wrapped her arms around his back, scratching her nails along his spine as he grunted and pushed his body to the limit. He would definitely need to do some serious wand work on this antique chaise to remove the smell of sex and sweat from it as they caused it to creak and groan with the extreme pressures they were putting on the old carved wood. He heard her breathing change a little and her walls squeezed him more tightly and though he was right on the edge, he put all of his reserves not currently trying to make her hit her peak in to stopping himself from reaching his own. Finally his tenacity paid off and she dug her nails in to his backside as she careened in to her orgasm and his arms shook under him as he thrust twice more before joining her and emptying himself copiously in to her willing body.

Sinking down in to the chaise, utterly spent, he tried to catch his breath as she did the same, absentmindedly stroking his chin-length hair. It took a few long minutes before he could scramble any of his wits together and even then, he ignored them in favour of kissing her softly. He did not need his wits right now, he just needed her here with him.


	14. Babysitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor, Jane, Loki and Sif babysit Astrid as Volstagg hurries Gunnhilde to the maternity ward.

The day had been amazing and Loki had almost resented Thor and Jane's return as they had quickly and with silent agreement acted as though nothing was happening.

His step the next morning was bright and even a brief visit by the Magical Law Enforcement had not deterred him. He had simply lied and said that the new muggles in the house had seen no magic and, filled with muggles and saturated with old magic as Fensalir was, they could not prove his lie or countermand them. That and, with his recent trial and the backing of those he had behind him, the matter was quickly let go.

The next day dawned as a college day and as he had missed some lectures being stuck in St. Mungo's, he was resolute to go despite having been briefly tempted to blow it off and see Sif. Hogun stopped by early and Loki had loaned him Hela and shown him how to attach and detach letters so that he could write to Aayala at school and thank her for everything he had done.

Picking up his books, he apparated to a quiet spot on campus and headed over to the lecture room. Jane was already there, prepping for Dr. Selvig and he settled himself in his usual seat. He had read Jane's notes on the lectures he had missed so he did not feel like he was too behind. A twinge of guilt surged through him when Charles' bereaved sister came in and sat down, looking drawn and exhausted. Reminding himself that he would have died anyway had Loki not been there did not help the feeling at all. 

He fixed his gaze on the paraphernalia in front of him, settling his mind as much as he could as the rest of the class filtered in. Jane's prediction had been spot-on as the class had shed about half of the attendees. Dr. Selvig came in and he already looked more relaxed. Loki closed his mind off from anything outside of the here and now of this room and listened as Selvig began a lecture on how to amplify images from telescopes, such as the Hubble and what it could show in the otherwise overlooked details. He was very glad that he had read Jane's copious and detailed notes or he would be lost even despite his intellect. He had never used muggle technology to view the cosmos, as a wizard he had never needed to. As class ended, he made his way down to Jane to offer to take her home.

"Good to have you back, Friggajarson." Selvig told him as Jane tidied up her things. "I hope you are recovered from your illness.”

“I am, thank you Professor.” He assured him but felt the man’s eyes lingering on him and he was unsure why.

“Okay, I’m ready to go.” Jane’s phone made them all jump when it went off loudly. It seemed Darcy had been messing with her ringtones again judging by the shade of crimson his sister-in-law-to-be went.

“It is Thor,” she said and answered it. “Hi Thor. No we’re just leaving now, why? Oh. Okay. Sure, we can be there in about… twenty minutes. I love you too. Bye.” She hung up.

“Where are we going?” Loki asked.

“Apparently he and Sif are going to ‘Cinnamon’ on Brick Lane. He said she has been helping with wedding stuff.” Jane was unaware that Loki was not really interested in wedding stuff, although he helped out for his brother’s sake, but he did want to see Sif.

“Maybe I can finally pin her down to come with Darcy, Gunnhilde and I for bridesmaid’s dresses,” she continued as they headed out of the lecture hall and towards the exit nearest the tube station. Loki had to remind himself to listen and not dream up many different fetching outfits Sif might be put in to, most of which were far too racy for a wedding but it was amusing all the same. 

“Have you picked a design yet?” He asked, not all that bothered, but it would help with the images flickering across his mind and after all, he did like Jane and every bride-to-be was allowed to get excited by their upcoming nuptials.

“I think so, I’ve boiled it down to two, so I want them all to try it on as they are such different body types. I want them to feel good. I don’t want to be one of those brides that forces their bridesmaids in to something hideous.”

“”I think you might have a very hard time making Sif look hideous. Or Darcy or Gunnhilde for that matter.” He added to the end and told himself that he did not notice the curious look Jane gave him, so he changed the subject as quickly as he dared to the apparatus she was currently working on and it did the trick. She seemed to utterly forget what was going on and delved entirely in to the nuances of the calibrations she was trying to achieve.

They got to the restaurant just in time to see Thor pressing some cash in to a waiter’s hand and Sif flagging them down urgently.

“Hurry up, Gunnhilde went in to labour early! Volstagg asked us to come and babysit Astrid for them.” She explained as Thor turned to flag down a black cab.

“Already? Doesn’t she still have three weeks to go?” Asked Loki.

“Babies come when they’re ready and judging by how flustered Volstagg was, the baby is ready.” Sif supplied helpfully as Jane was bundled in to the cab by an overenthusiastic Thor.

“I can get in myself,” Loki warned him in a rather prickly manner as he did not wish to be bundled unceremoniously in to the back of the cab and Sif snorted at the pair of them before getting in before them both. Eventually, they were all inside and the cab set off for the home of their friends.

There was such a flurry of activity at the door, Volstagg being shushed by his wife for fretting overmuch as they swapped the cab over, Thor having paid the driver for both trips as he feared Volstagg would be in too much of a state to worry about it otherwise. The cab pulled away and headed for the hospital and Loki raised his eyebrows to Thor at the commotion, but Thor just nodded. He knew his baby brother’s moods too well to make a comment now.

Inside the house, Jane was on the floor with Astrid, building a tower of Duplo and thoroughly enjoying herself. A clatter of cups on the kitchen side told Loki that Sif was in there and likely getting the tea mugs out. Thor dropped to the floor beside the girls and seized some bricks of his own and Loki wondered how long it would be before he was helping a flustered Thor get his pregnant wife to the hospital. Likely not long if the domestic scene of bliss before him would have anything to do with it.

Loki himself slid silently in to the kitchen and he closed the door properly behind him. Sif turned and smiled at him as she finished setting up the milk and sugar of each person’s different taste.

“Earl Grey okay?” she asked as she turned back to the mugs and Loki took the opportunity to step in behind her and wrap his arms around her waist.

“Fine. No milk or sugar please.” He murmured in her ear and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“You do realise your brother is probably going to burst through that door in a moment, after Gunnhilde’s cookies.” She reminded him as she turned in his arms to face him.

“He is building a Duplo tower first. We have a few minutes.” He replied and leaned in to kiss her. It was just as magical as the other day, her lips making his tingle and causing shivers down his spine. He was just starting to lose himself in the moment when the kettle pinged that it was boiled and he managed to hold in a groan of annoyance as he pulled away.

“Get the cookies out ready,” Sif told him as she turned back to the drinks. Soon, they were back through the door in to the living room bearing goodies and covering their absence.

Four hours, a Disney movie and three episodes of Peppa Pig later, the call came through that Gunnhilde was safely delivered of a 7lb 8oz boy that they were going to name Ambjörn.

“You take Jane and go with Astrid. I’ll go and get the others and we can come by later on,” Sif suggested as Loki picked up the phone and called a minicab. Calls were made, messages of love flowed in and the trio headed off for the hospital.

Sif locked up and Loki took her in his arms and disapparated back to her flat. Fandral and Hogun were not home and he smirked as she pulled him towards her bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There may be a really weird updating schedule coming up over the next few months as I have been / will be away from home with business trips and also with my brother visiting for two weeks. I will update whenever I can though.


	15. Future thoughts

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Future thoughts

Volstagg’s child was very lucky that he looked much more like his mother than his father, or so Loki thought privately. He, Sif and the others had stopped by and Loki had seen the big man cooing over his tiny-in-comparison newborn son. He had then left them to it and waited outside in the waiting area while the others all took their turn. He was not quite so bothered about getting time with the baby, he was not really a holding-babies sort of man. He was rather sure that were he not able to cast some kind of cushioning spell beneath the baby when holding it, he would probably drop it on its tiny little head and then be promptly turned to paste by Gunnhilde - Volstagg likely would not even get the chance to kill Loki.

No, he was better off lurking in the rather weird-smelling waiting area. It somehow managed to smell like disinfectant, plastic, baby poo and baby lotion all at once. He could not escape though, so stuck in the hospital he was until Sif came to rescue him and take him back out in to the world. He pulled out his mobile phone and began to swipe through his usual news site while he waited as watching more Peppa Pig on the currently silenced TV was out of the question. He was starting to hate that cheerful cartoon pig after spending so much time with Astrid.

“There you are,” Sif poked her head in “the others were wondering if you had gone home.”

“Not really the sort to get excited over babies,” he replied, but put his phone away dutifully.

“Nor am I but he _is_ really cute,” Sif told him and she kissed his cheek lightly as she pulled him out in to the corridor. “I like them more when I like their parents.”

“I suppose that does have a hand in it,” Loki agreed and squeezed her hand. “If Thor gives me nieces and nephews, I suppose I could make the effort to like them.”

“That’s the spirit,” She retorted, a little dryly but he smirked at her in return. He was not the sort to have an open and publicly gooey centre, after all.

Fandral and Hogun were just leaving when they came up and hall and they quickly and silently disconnected from each other before they were spotted.

“Found him lurking in the waiting area,” she supplied helpfully when Fandral looked in their direction.

“Sociable as always, Loki,” he chuckled before Hogun led him down the hallway in search of food.

Hurried inside by Sif, Loki greeted the new parents and saw Astrid asleep at the foot of her mother’s bed.

“I think the excitement of being a big sister has tuckered her out,” Gunnhilde said as Sif took the baby from her.

Loki’s eyes were dragged to his secret girlfriend holding a newborn child and while he was not suddenly struck with the desire to settle in to such a life with her (and he somewhat doubted that he would have been ready had they been dating for years, either) he had to admit that it was a scene that could not fail to do _something_. She looked in turns excited, enthralled and terrified of the tiny sleeping bundle. The baby gurgled in his sleep but did not wake.

“He is certainly better behaved than you, Volstagg,” she chuckled, when she was sure that the baby was okay with being held by her.

“I hope that continues as well, having two of them might prove too much for me!” Gunnhilde joked tiredly but she had a smile on her face that did not look like it was going to be wiped off any time soon. Loki wondered if his own mother had had a chance to look like that and if she ever actually had. He loved Frigga dearly, but sometimes he had to admit he wondered about his birth mother and what she had really been like. Little Arnbjorn slept on, happy, loved and cradled by the woman Loki loved. He pulled a smile on to his face and did his best to banish his demons, at least until he was away in private again.

"Oh. I er... I think he... doodled." Sif said awkwardly and handed the cute but stinky bundle back to the mother. Loki held in a chuckle at her lack of mothering instinct as she wiped her palms on her own jeans apparently absentmindedly.

"We should leave you to it. I know Thor and Jane said they would be visiting around now," Loki made their excuses and they left the little family to a few minutes rest.

Sif wrapped her arms around Loki's left one when they were out of sight of those they knew.

"Are we doing anything today?" She asked, clearly in a very good mood.

"I didn't have anything planned, but we could go back to mine if you like. No one will be there."

"Now that sounds like a plan." He smirked as she nibbled on his earlobe and, ensuring no one could see, he apparated them both back to Fensalir. They fell together on to his soft mattress and he found himself gathered up in to Sif's strong arms as she took control and he let her with a lewd grin.

Two hours and a lot of stress on his bedstead later, he pulled himself from his sheets and wrapped himself in his satiny dressing gown, padding out to fetch some food as Sif snoozed, contented and exhausted.

He squeaked in fright when he saw his mother sitting quietly in the room, reading and nibbling on finger sandwiches.

"Oh, hello dear," she said placidly as she set down her book and food and stood to welcome him in to a hug.

"I did not know you were coming here, Mother. I apologise for my attire at this time of day. Volstagg had his baby - or rather, Gunnhilde did - and I was a little tired." He lied as she hugged him close.

"Is that so? Congratulations to them, but I had rather thought your attire had more to do with Sif being here. It appears I was mistaken." Oooh, that sneaky woman! He pulled back hastily and tried to tell himself he was not putting a beetroot to shame with his complexion. 

"Don't worry yourself, Loki. I have known for many a year that you were working up the nerve to confess your feelings. I suppose I should thank Sigyn for giving you the push you needed?"

"Um..." He felt lost for words, which he could not recall happening before. "Yes. She did."

"Excellent girl. You are such good friends to one another."

"Why are you here if you knew I had...guests? Not that I am unhappy to see you."

"I just wanted to see my son. I have not seen as much of you since your removal here. Also, I know you. I know you will worry about being with Sif when my husband has made his ridiculous notions clear. I wanted you to know that you need have no secrets from me at least."

"Then, yes, mother. Sif and I are courting but we have not made such public knowledge yet."

"I await the day that you do and I can let everyone know how happy I am. I shall let you back to your lady. Don't forget to stop by sometimes." He hugged his mother tightly, refusing to let his earlier musings on his birth mother in to spoil the moment.

"I love you."

"I love you too, my son."

Loki gathered up a tray of food and went back to his room. Sif blinked awake as he opened the door and he took in her sleepy, sated and mussed beauty and knew that he was the happiest man in the world for that moment.

"Food! I knew I liked you for a reason," she quipped and he set the tray down, shutting her up with a passionate kiss.


	16. The sort-of secret date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki takes Sif on their first date.

“So, where are we going, anyway?” Sif asked as Loki had asked her to meet him at London Bridge Station in something ‘dressy, but not too dressy’. He had been waiting for her, dressed in a green satin shirt and immaculate black trousers. He looked very dapper, even if he said so himself and she looked so much beyond it his heart ached just to look at her.

She wore a dark blue lace sleeveless sheath dress and matching shoes, it hugged her figure and hinted at what lay beneath. Loki’s eyes were fixed upon her silhouette as she walked towards him. She had always fascinated him, drawn his eye and been like a beacon in the dark ever since that first day he had seen her in the corridors at Gladsheim so many years ago. That had not changed even now, he still was transfixed by her.

“Not far.” He offered her his arm and led her to the left, down the little escalator and to the doors of The Shard. 

“Reservation for two, under Friggajarson for Aqua.” Loki told the doorman as Sif checked her bag and his coat through the security scanner. As they were let through and went to the fast lift inside to the restuarant, Sif turned to him and squeezed his hand.

“Dinner at The Shard, huh?” She asked, a big smile on her face that caused Loki’s heart to flutter.

“I thought it was about time I actually took you on a first date,” he answered as the lift doors opened on to the glass-encircled restaurant. 

“This’ll take some topping you know,” she teased as they were taken to their seats, able to look out over the river and so far beyond in the twilight that was starting to descend. Little lights started flickering on, making a very romantic and beautiful spectacle.

They ordered their starters, mains and drinks and settled in, just talking as the darkness settled outside over London, eating the fantastic food and enjoying their time together on their first official date. It was calming, not having to worry about hiding their whereabouts from their friends, having to sneak around and pretend that they were no closer than the friends they always were. He could not touch her when they were together in the group and she could not let her gaze linger on him lest they be caught.

It was rather exhausting, all this hiding when he wanted to tell about how happy he was - especially to Thor, but they did not want to let this new relationship rain on anyone else’s parade. Baby Arnbjorn was still being celebrated and Thor and Jane’s wedding was approaching fast - they could always tell their news after all that, when they had been dating longer and felt more secure about it all. The last thing their budding romance needed was dissection by all of their family and friends.

Sif made her excuses to use the facilities and Loki settled in, having a drink and watching the last of the sunset as it changed the night sky around them, high above the city proper.

“Those toilets are weird, cool and slightly creepy,” Sif said as she retook her seat and the elaborate desserts were served up.

“Why?”

“The cubicles are mirrors. All of it, walls, ceiling - all you see are multiples of yourself trying to do something private and then the sinks and open area are all open to the sky outside. Look, I took a selfie.” She pulled out her phone and showed him a snap of herself by the windows, overlooking the city. She then sent it to her friends, tagging herself in at The Shard.

They ate the dessert and lingered for a while, sipping drinks and getting steadily more and more drunk. 

“We should stop before we get too smashed to walk to the hotel,” Loki pointed out, signalling for the waiter to get the bill.

“Or we could keep going and get a taxi,” Sif giggled, but did not move to stop him from paying the bill when it came. The taxis picked them up outside as the cool night air only made them feel even more intoxicated and the decided against walking. The night passed in a happy, befuddled and drunken blur, their bodies entwined between soft sheets.

As they slowly blinked awake, hangovers just beginning to form, Sif kissed his cheek.

“That was some first date, Loki.”

“We’ll just have to find a way to top it for the second.” He chuckled. After a little kerfuffle, they both managed to get up, get showered and go down for a breakfast to chase away the hangover, orange juice and paracetamol seeming to do the trick.

“I should get a taxi back to my place, or people will suspect,” Sif told him reluctantly as they parted, there were upsides to sneaking around like this, but there were glaring downsides as well and he sighed.

“I’ll apparate you straight in to your room. Then they can just assume you’ve been in there all night, alone.”

“Okay.” He took her down a quiet, empty corridor and they disapparated. He kissed her longingly in her room and then he too went back to his bedroom. He moved straight in to his wardrobe and stripped off, dressing in some clothes for the day ahead and went out to his favoured chair in the parlour.

“Morning, brother.” Thor greeted him, cheerily, as Jane nodded politely from behind her large textbook. “We missed you last night, but I’m glad you are here now - I need your help with the seating arrangements. You’re better at these things than I am.”

“Okay but I can only help for a couple of hours, I have an essay I need to write for Professor Selvig today.”

“I’ll go and get the board.” Thor jumped up and hurried off for the little board he was using to figure out where to sit people, working around feuding factions and family members while still having a nice day for the wedding.

“It seems Sif had a good time last night,” Jane observed when Thor had gone.

“Did she?”

“Mmm, I believe she tagged herself in at The Shard last night when she updated her page.” She continued and Loki did not like the tone of voice she was using, it was far too knowing and smug. “Did I not recall you making a reservation for The Shard last night on the phone?”

“Uh… no. I was-”

“Loki, I know.” Jane cut him off mid-lie and he froze. “I see. I haven’t told Thor and I’m pretty sure none of the boys have figured it out yet. How long has this been going on?”

“A couple of months,” he admitted. “We didn’t want all the scrutiny or to take away from your wedding or from the baby.”

“I’m happy for you, I first noticed that you both seemed happier in general at the same time - which made me suspicious; but if you want it to stay a secret then it is safe with me." She promised.

“Thanks, Jane.” They heard Thor coming back down the hall and Jane went back to her book as if no conversation had taken place at all.


	17. Stags on parade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fandral planned the stag party... Loki tries to do what he can to limit the planned insanity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologise for how long this took to be posted. I have had a ridiculously busy time IRL, I changed jobs and had to settle in and then I had a family member visit for two weeks. I should have more time now to get back in to a routine again. This is the penultimate chapter of "Calcination" - the third part "Moonlight" will be coming soon!

"This is not going to end well," Loki warned darkly to his elder brother as Fandral started to outline his plans for the evening as they piled in to the limosine. He had been in very high (and somewhat frantically erratic) spirits since he and Sabrina had called off their on-off romance yet again.

"Have faith, little brother." Thor chuckled as Fandral began describing the strippers he had hired for part of the evening. 

"There is a very good reason as to why we don't let Fandral plan things," he reminded Thor. "Anyway, the Best Man is supposed to plan stag parties."

"You have been so busy getting back up to speed with Selvig's classes, I did not wish to put anything else on to your already burdened shoulders, little brother.” Thor told him kindly.

“Yes well, it would have been work but not a burden and we would not have been going to strip clubs.” Loki pointed out with only a small pout.

“Ah, but ‘tis tradition for a stag party~” Fandral chimed in happily.

“So is leaving someone tied naked to a lamppost in a different city,” Hogun pointed out wryly.

“The groom, not me!” Fandral protested to general merriment of the others.

“It feels kind of strange without Sif in our ranks,” Volstagg pointed out as they turned towards the motorway to head in to London proper. Loki agreed and while he would have preferred to be in her company, Sif had been invited by Jane to her hen party and had gone to that instead.

“It does,” Fandral and Thor agreed together while Hogun merely nodded, as if he had used up all the words he was going to for the evening.

The limo had been stuffed with champagne and as they travelled along the M25 and turned in to London the group, Loki included, got more and more drunk. They arrived in Central London and piled out of the car at Stringfellows. Loki pulled a face as they were ushered in and the last tiny part of his brain that was still sober hoped that there were no paparazzi around eager to get a shot of Thor and himself doing something embarrassing. Such incidents had sharply declined after Thor had met Jane and it would be a shame to buck that trend now.

No telltale flashes went off and they were safely inside the club. Fandral immediately ordered more champagne and Volstagg boomed that he wanted to see the menu and a little smile quirked at the side of Loki’s lips at them. He caught Thor’s eye and they both grinned at each other. It might not be Loki’s locale of choice for a night out, but everyone seemed to be having fun and that was, after all, the name of the game.

“Would you like a drink as well?” A pretty brunette asked and Loki smiled.

“Sure. Why not?” Then he leaned in with a smirk. “Bill the whole night to that smirking idiot, will you?”

The brunette winked at him and whisked off for his drink, Loki feeling like he had his revenge - the headache Fandral would get on top of his hangover when he saw the bill would be so worth it.

By the time they fell out of the club and back in to the limosine, none of them were very coherent, but luckily Loki had thought ahead and booked them a hotel suite and sent a change of clothing ahead when he had found out that Fandral had neglected that part. There was no way they would be in a fit state to go home after tonight and they stopped off outside the hotel and continued the party in their suite until they all finally passed out.

_bzzt bzzt. bzzt bzzt. bzzt bzzt.bzzt bzzt. bzzt bzzt. bzzt bzzt._

“Someone answer that fucking thing,” Fandral moaned, shoving his pillow over his face.

“‘Lo?” Thor answered and immediately grabbed a glass of water as it sounded to Loki’s ringing ears like his brother’s throat was made of sandpaper. “Hmm? Yeah, we’re….where are we?”

“The Corinthia,” Loki replied, swigging water himself to clear out his mouth which tasted like death.

“We're at the Corinthia. We did? Oh right, yes we did. Happy anniversary.”Thor looked over at Loki bemusedly.

“We bought them an anniversary gift,” Loki whispered back. “Delivered early so it would get to them before they left.”

“Yes. I hope you both liked it. Mmhmm. I’ll tell him. Have a good flight. ‘Bye.” Thor ended the call. “So...what did we buy them? Mum sends her love, by the way.”

“One of those Fortnum and Mason hampers Mum likes and a magnum for them both.”

“I should have got them something.”

“Well, you have been very busy with the wedding.”

“Yes, but Jane is not the only important person in my li-” Thor grabbed a wastepaper basket and promptly threw up in it.

“Well, that was a touching moment,” Loki drawled, feeling nauseated himself and got up to head to the bathroom to wash his mouth out and have a shower in the hopes that it would shake the cobwebs from his mind. After emptying his own stomach in the toilet, he washed himself thoroughly and changed, feeling much better now his body was clean and purged.

Thor had got rid of the basket and Loki decided to not ask where it was and then his place in the bathroom was taken by his big brother. Deciding to be as annoying as he could, he quietly ordered a large breakfast to soothe the beasts but then threw the curtains wide, bathing the hungover trio in warm sunlight.

Judging by the looks they gave him, it was a very good thing they were all so hungover or they might have killed him on the spot. He snapped a picture of them on his phone for posterity and immediately uploaded it to his social media, tagging in Sif and Jane for good measure.

Eventually, after much cajoling, they were all washed and clean and their breakfast arrived - which went a very long way for the three towards forgiving Loki for his earlier stunt.

“So,” Thor asked as he ripped in to a breakfast roll “what are we doing today? Any plans or are we going to just head home?”

“We’re going to meet up with the girls at the Punch and Judy.” Fandral supplied helpfully. “Figured we could nurse our sore heads with them.”

“Hair of the dog, then?” Volstagg asked.

“The best cure.” Fandral agreed. “I told Gunnhilde so she has a babysitter sorted out.”

“Thanks, guys.” Thor grinned at them all “You’ve made my stag party a really good night.”

“What you remember of it, anyway,” Loki corrected with a grin and he dodged the sweetmeat that Thor threw at him.

“It still counts.”

"I should probably tip the girl that brought the food... what is this?" Fandral's eyes went wide and then he passed out as he found the receipt for last night, paid from his own personal account. Loki smirked as the others all laughed at their newly-impoverished friend.


	18. The Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor and Jane get married and a surprise is in store.

Loki walked out of the room, claiming a need for fresh air when in truth, he just needed to get away from Thor's exuberance for a minute or three. He was very happy for his brother but he could not handle listening to Jane's numerous virtues being extolled any more times. Thor would see his bride in a few hours and Loki feared he might not survive Thor's excitement much longer.

Drinking in the quiet at the garden, he pulled his phone out at a notification buzz.

 _If Thor is driving you as crazy as Jane is to me right now, you get no sympathy as I need it all for myself._ Loki chuckled at it and replied.

_Only a few more hours and we can let everyone else deal with their excitement and happiness._

_Being a bridesmaid lends credence to the argument for morning drinking. See you soon. I'm needed to weave wildflowers in to Darcy's hair..._. He smiled at his phone and pocketed it again before heading back in. Thor might be driving him crazy, but he doubted he could hold in his excitement were it his own wedding day... just at a far lower decibel level.

"Brother! I need aid with my cummerbund - as does Volstagg." 

"I'm not putting my fingers anywhere near Volstagg's midriff," he half-joked and pulled out his wand to bespell the offending garments in to place. His magic was required a few more times to ensure the boys all looked dapper enough for the occasion.

Finally, it was time to get Thor in to the garden which Loki had called in a few favours to help bespell and the clearing at Fensalir by the lake was perfect. It looked like something out of a fairytale and yet Loki was sad for Thor that it was not held at Gladsheim. Still, Fensalir was up to the task of standing-in. Odin had agreed to attend after much cajoling but not to letting them use Thor's ancestral home.

The guests were arriving and Thor and the Three were busying themselves with greeting and seating people according to the painstakingly carefully drawn-up seating plans. Thor's mother, Fyorgyn also arrived with her new boyfriend in tow and he looked happy to see her there. Loki, however, was busy overseeing the final touches to the ballroom where the wedding breakfast would be. He had charmed the faerie lights again and concealed his magic so the mostly-muggle guest list would not see anything amiss and it seemed Hannah had things under control as ever. Giving her a smile as she ordered the staff around, he left her to it to go back to Thor. 

His phone buzzed again - Sif telling him Jane was on the way. They had dressed up Thor's beloved car for her with white ribbons as a little nod to how they first met.

Soon enough, the crunch of gravel was heard and the bridal party arrived. Loki passed his brother a conjured towel to dry his brow and hands as he got nervous in the moment and he gave his elder brother a reassuring smile as they waited for her under the specially-ordained gazebo. Due to wedding laws in England, they had had to make special modifications to the gazebo to allow it to qualify to be registered as a place of marriage but as Loki watched Thor try to hold in his excitement, as he turned to see Jane walking up the aisle looking radiant in her [dress](http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa475/epistretes/fic%20images/TIBET_B_zpsat1spymx.jpg) and followed by the [maid of honour and bridesmaids](http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa475/epistretes/fic%20images/LANDETA_B_zpsbeemgotx.jpg), Erik walking her down the aisle, he knew it was worth it.

“Just wait ‘til you see her,” he whispered in Thor’s ear and the big man gulped and nodded, turning to see his beautiful bride come towards him. The look of love in his eyes made Loki happy, Thor was made for love and big smiles and Jane gave that to him, Odin’s disapproval be damned.

Jane reached Thor and passed her bouquet to Darcy and they all pulled back to allow the registrar to begin the service.

It was beautiful, the words they shared and the vows they made were slightly amended from the traditional words (as Jane had no intention of obeying Thor and Thor had no intention of trying to make her) but true to the traditions and standing of the family she was marrying in to, they kept much of the ceremony traditional, with a few small, more modern twists. It seemed to show that while things were going to change, they would not change too abruptly and Loki wondered if that was noticed by Odin or lost on him. 

“I now pronounce you man and wife, you may kiss your bride.” Thor did not need telling twice as he scooped his beautiful, diminutive bride in to his arms and kissed her to the sounds of cheering from those present.

Loki, as best man, took Darcy’s arm as they followed the newly married couple back down the aisle and in to the wedding breakfast room and they sat at the top table on either side of the happy pair.

The food was incredible, Gunnhilde having been overseeing the fare as was now the norm for any get togethers for the friends and even those more of the opinion that a young upstart from no family should be allowed to marry in to a line such as resided at Gladsheim seemed to be thawing a little as the day went on.

It was time for the speechifying and Loki stood up as Darcy tapped her fork enthusiastically against her glass for silence (Loki cast a wordless spell to strengthen in in case she smashed it) and he cleared his throat.

“Welcome, all, to today’s celebrations. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Jane in to our family - I know from experience that it can be a daunting prospect; but I know she is more than up to meeting such a challenge.”

“Hear, hear!” called out Fandral, who had a big smile on his face and was on his third drink already.

“Who would have thought that a fight between brothers, involving an owl attack - long story - and being hit with a car would lead Thor to the love of his life? None of us would have bet on such an outcome and yet the tale has had the most happy of endings.”

Loki lifted his glass to Jane.

“Here is to Jane Thorsbride, a wonderful woman and one I am pleased to call my sister.”

“Jane Thorsbride!” The crowd called out as was family tradition and Loki smiled briefly at Sif catching his eye and he sat down. The gifts and favours were handed out and the photographer took many pictures, both wizarding and muggle, of the cutting of the cake.

“I see you kept it short and sweet,” Sif murmured as she sidled up beside him nonchalantly as Darcy and Ian had their picture taken.

“Somehow I think even the best of my words would dim under the radiance of Jane today,” he replied and Sif chuckled, pinching his arm.

“Such a silver tongue you have.”

“Although it must be said, quietly of course, that you might run the risk of outshining even such a bride.”

“Cheesy arse.”

“Save a dance for me later?”

“Of course.”

“Sif! We need you for the next group photo!” She walked away as if nothing was being interrupted and Loki watched as pictures of Sif and the Three were taken and when Thor joined them, Jane came over and beamed up at her new brother.

“I can probably manage it that we can get a picture of you and Sif without anyone being suspicious,” she whispered and Loki noted the gleam of mischief in her eyes.

“I think I would like that,” he replied, evenly. “You look lovely.”

“I feel lovely. I’ve never really worried about what I was wearing before but I feel like a princess today.” She admitted, smoothing down the fabric of her skirt.

“I’m glad.” He kissed her hand and she giggled before being swept off by some other guests and he noticed her whispering very quickly to the photographer before she disappeared in to the crowd.

“Perhap we could get some other shots, I have some space left,” announced the photographer and Loki chuckled. Smoke and mirrors, after all - he approved. A few snaps were taken of Sif with the Three individually and of her and Thor and then Loki was called over. As he stood beside her, the flowers in her hair letting their perfume waft in to his nose, he put his arm around her waist.

He could not help but smile charmingly and happily as she nestled so perfectly in to his side and the picture was snapped for posterity.

A bell rang out and called for the reception, they all filed in to the ballroom again which had been transformed during the photograph taking and once everyone was inside, the first dance began. Strains of Elvis’ “I can’t help falling in love” echoed through the room as Jane and Thor twirled on the dance floor, utterly lost in each other and their own world and the others watched with dreamy smiles on their faces. Darcy dragged Loki on to the dance floor as the song ended and the second began, soon followed by many other couples and he smiled at his partner.

“This feels weird,” she chuckled as Ian stood at the side, looking awkward and waiting for the traditional best man and maid of honour dance to end.

“Very,” Loki replied, he liked the girl but there had always been a sense of wariness on his side as she was unpredictable and loved winding him up. The mischief maker in him recognised that and was always on watch. Halfway through the song, Ian seemed to screw up his courage and walked over.

“May I cut in?”

“You may,” Loki agreed and left the couple to it, they looked almost as happy as the bride and groom and he was pleased for them.

“I appear to be bereft of a partner,” Loki said to Sif and offered his hand. “Care to rectify this issue for me?”

“I suppose I could do that,” She replied, handing Hogun her drink and she accompanied Loki to the dance floor. It was pure torture to not be able to show his feelings on his face and dance with her as if they were just two friends at a wedding rather than betraying the desire and longing building in his gut.

Partners were aplenty and the evening was magical even with only the slightest traces of Loki’s magic. He and Sif managed to find one another for a dance here and there throughout the evening and, for a few hurried minutes even managed to excuse themselves for a few minutes of quiet together.

“I believe there is one lady who has not had the pleasure of a dance,” Loki turned to face his mother and smiled indulgently at her.

“I would be honoured,” he took her hand and saw Odin speaking with Fyorgyn off to one side and he looked disgruntled by whatever it was she was saying, then he turned his attention back to his mother and twirled her gently around the dance floor.

“This has been a beautiful day, I’m very happy for them both,” Frigga mused aloud and Loki agreed with her and was about to verbalise it when a hush suddenly filled the room and they stopped dancing to look over.

“Might I ask for a dance with the bride?” Odin asked, the stunned silence allowing the words to echo around the room.

“Yes, I mean, you may.” Jane looked like a deer in headlights but she separated from her husband and Odin stepped in to take his place. The two started to gently move around together. 

“That… was unexpected.”

“I believe,” Frigga said as the others in the room started to dance again, all with one eye on the unlikely pair “Fyorgyn repeating what we have been saying to him for so long might have had an effect. Things always sound different when coming from a source outside of their usual fold and she has rather the talent for getting under his skin.”

“He needed a shove rather than gentle nudging, then,” Loki concluded.

“I think you might be able to sneak in one more dance with your lady Sif without anyone noticing,” Frigga told him and gently withdrew and sent Sif over to him, watching the pair dance with a smile on her face. The day was winding down, people were beginning to leave and Frigga and Odin took their leave to go home. 

“Care for a less controversial partner?” Loki asked Jane as Thor and Sif danced together.

“I think so, I almost had a heart attack when he came over.” She admitted as Loki led her in the dance.

“Now, now, in your condition, I think heart attacks are inadvisable.” Jane stiffened in his arms.

“Relax, I have told no one and I doubt anyone else has noticed that you have skilfully evaded any alcohol whatsoever today.”

“You always do notice everything.”

“Payback for you noticing Sif and I” he teased.

“Well then, yes. I haven’t told Thor yet - I’ve only known for a few days myself and I didn’t want to make him fret today on top of everything else. I’ll tell him later on tonight when we’re alone.”

“Congratulations, sister.” Jane beamed at him and as they danced together, Darcy took plenty of pictures for her more candid photo album.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with this story!
> 
> Part Three of Quintessence, "Moonlight" will be up soon and follows the story of Thor and his new wife, Sif and Loki's deepening relationship and the stress of delicate familial ties, work and studying all bearing down. If you want to subscribe to the series, you will not miss the next installment (and I would love it)!


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